Ukrainian law enforcement officers have in absentia filed a charge of suspicion against the head of the Russian colony where journalist Viktoria Roshchyna and the head of the Dniprorudne urban community in the Zaporizhzhia region Yevhen Matveyev died as a result of torture.
This was reported by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office (PGO).
Russian Vyacheslav Perevozkin has been in charge of Detention Center No. 3 in the city of Kizel in the Perm Territory of Russia since July 2024. According to the investigation, he directly gave orders to torture Ukrainian prisoners.
In the Russian pre-trial detention center, civilians were held in inhumane, unsanitary, and physically exhausting conditions. In particular, the suspect forced prisoners to stand in their cells for more than 16 hours a day.
According to the investigation, Perevozkin, together with his subordinates, organized systematic torture of Ukrainian civilian prisoners. They were tortured with electric shocks, beaten with fists, kicks, and rubber batons.
What is known about Viktoria Roshchyna and Yevhen Matveyev
Journalist Viktoria Roshchyna disappeared in August 2023 in the temporarily occupied territories from where she was supposed to be reporting. In May 2024, Russia confirmed that it was holding the woman captive.
On October 10, it became known that Roshchyna died during a transfer from Taganrog to Moscow. Roshchynaʼs body was returned to Ukraine at the end of February 2025. He was identified using DNA testing.
According to the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office, numerous signs of torture and ill-treatment were found on the journalistʼs body. Due to the condition of the body, the cause of death could not be determined.
The international organization Forbidden Stories found out that the journalistʼs body was returned without some internal organs. Presumably, they wanted to hide the cause of her death.
Later, the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office reported that they found numerous injuries on the journalistʼs body — bone fractures, hemorrhages in various parts of the body, a broken rib.
The mayor of Dniprorudne (Zaporizhzhia region) Yevhen Matveyev was captured by the Russians shortly after the city was occupied. He spent 2 years and 8 months there. Yevhenʼs tortured body was returned during an exchange in December 2024.
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