PACE introduces Victory for Victoria Day in honour of tortured journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna
Source: MP Yevheniia Kravchuk, Deputy Chair of the Servant of the People faction, on Facebook
Quote: "An important initiative was launched today [3 June – ed.] during the hearing on my resolution on Ukrainian journalists in Russian captivity at the PACE Committee on Culture, Science, Education and Media meeting in Norway.
At the suggestion of PACE President Theodoros Roussopoulos, a 'Victory for Victoria' Day will be established – a day dedicated to war correspondents and freedom of journalism.
This day in PACE will be dedicated to the memory of Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna, who was abducted, tortured and killed in Russian captivity. Unfortunately, her story is not unique. Every year, dozens of journalists are killed, captured or disappear without a trace while covering the war against Ukraine."
Details: Kravchuk said that the aim of the initiative is to honour journalists who have been killed or have disappeared while reporting the truth.
It has been proposed that an annual PACE resolution, a minute of silence during the autumn session in Strasbourg, and a side event during the session will be introduced.
Kravchuk also announced that Victory for Victoria Day will be celebrated for the first time this year at the PACE autumn session (29 September-3 October) during the vote on a resolution on Ukrainian journalists in captivity.
Read articles by Viktoriia Roshchyna for Ukrainska Pravda Background:
Viktoriia Roshchyna disappeared on 3 August 2023 while reporting from Russian-occupied territory.
In 2022, Roshchyna wrote a series of articles for Ukrainska Pravda from the temporarily occupied territories. Her work included stories about life in occupied Crimea during the war, the pseudo-referendum in occupied Donetsk Oblast, and a photo report from the devastated city of Mariupol.
On 25 July 2023, Roshchyna left Ukraine for Poland, planning to make the three-day journey via Russia to the occupied part of Ukraine's east.
It was not until May 2024 that Russia admitted to having detained Roshchyna. The Russian Ministry of Defence sent a letter confirming this to her father, Volodymyr Roshchyn.
On 10 October 2024, Petro Yatsenko, the head of the press service of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, said during the 24/7 national joint newscast that Viktoriia Roshchyna had died in Russian custody.
Dmytro Lubinets, Ukrainian Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights, later said he had received confirmation of Roshchyna's death from the Russian side.
The Office of the Prosecutor General announced that a criminal case opened in connection with Roshchyna's disappearance has been reclassified as a war crime combined with premeditated murder.
Investigators from the media outlet Slidstvo.Info found that Roshchyna was brutally tortured in Russian captivity: her body had knife wounds, she was tortured with electricity and Russian prison staff hid her from inspections.
According to the autopsy, the body of journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna had numerous traces of torture and some of her internal organs are also missing.
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