@laurentrichard.bsky.social
Journalist and founder of Forbidden Stories
📰 Putin’s Ghost Prisons
How a global journalism collaboration finished the investigation cut short by the death of a Ukrainian journalist in Russian captivity.
🗣️ @juliettegarside.bsky.social @laurentrichard.bsky.social
@katbbc.bsky.social
🎥 Livestream 7 May tinyurl.com/yj26vcj5
She was journalist. What we know about the torture of Viktoriia Roshchyna in Taganrog prison, the « Russian Guantanamo »
01.05.2025 09:45 — 👍 2 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
@forbidden-stories.bsky.social' latest collaborative investigation, Russia’s ‘Ghost Detainees’, finishes the work Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna died pursuing.
Hear from @juliettegarside.bsky.social & @laurentrichard.bsky.social at #SirHarrySummit, 7 May.
🎥 Livestream: sirharrysummit.org
Her work was essential.
Our commitment is clear: to document, to expose, and to ensure the truth is heard.
Thank you to all the teams and partners who made this possible.
#ViktoriiaProject #ForbiddenStories #PressFreedom #Ukraine 7/7
Viktoriia wanted to make invisible victims visible.
By continuing her investigation, we honor this promise: never let a story die with the journalist who carried it. 6/
We have identified:
• The prison commanders
• The torturers (special units named Grozny, Lynx, Saturn)
• Proof of an organized policy — not isolated acts. 5/
4/
At Taganrog (Russia), Viktoriia was held for 9 months.
In this prison, now dubbed the “Russian Guantanamo,” torture was systematic: electrocution, suffocation, beatings, sexual violence. 4/
Our investigation reveals a system of horror:
• 16,000 to 20,000 Ukrainian civilians detained without trial
• 29 centers where torture is systematic
• Secret facilities, basements, garages — and prisons like Taganrog. 3/
At @forbidden-stories.bsky.social , our mission is to continue the work of journalists who are killed, imprisoned, or silenced.
With 45 journalists from 13 partner media outlets, we launched the Viktoriia Project. 2/
In August 2023, Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna disappeared while investigating the secret detention of civilians by Russia.
A year later, her body was returned. Tortured. Dead in captivity.
Today, we tell her story. #ViktoriiaProject 1/
Today, at #ARIJ24 Annual Forum, @laurentrichard.bsky.social highlighted the power of collaborative cross-border journalism to report on war crimes in Gaza alongside @manisha.bsky.social and Youmna El Sayed.
With the #GazaProject we united 50 journalists from 13 news organizations.
🚨 Russian law enforcement conducted a search & seizure at the home of the parents of fellow reporter Alesya Marokhovskaya - the editor-in-chief of Istories, an @occrp.bsky.social member center. A criminal case was opened against her under the “foreign agency” article.
istories.media/en/news/2024...
ARIJ Forum is around the corner, bringing collaboration to the forefront! 🤝
Hoda Osman leads a panel featuring @manisha.bsky.social, @frederikobermaier.bsky.social, Youmna El Sayed, and @laurentrichard.bsky.social to discuss the #GazaProject.
Connect with us online: arij24.arij.net/en/agenda/in...
