“You Could Hear the Screams”: Ukrainian Journalist Tortured and Held by Russia for Over Two Years

Ukrainian journalist Anastasiia Hlukhivska, who was detained by Russian security forces in August 2023 in occupied Melitopol, has been held in Russian custody for more than two years without any formal charges, according to an investigation by Slidstvo.Info published on October 22.

The report states that officers from Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) raided Hlukhivska’s apartment on August 20, 2023, confiscating her electronic devices before taking her away. Since that day, her family and colleagues have had no direct contact with her.

The FSB initially denied detaining Hlukhivska, informing her relatives in an official letter that no such arrest had taken place.

According to Slidstvo.Info, Hlukhivska was first held in a basement facility at a Melitopol enterprise called “Ruslan-Komplekt,” which Russian occupation forces had converted into a detention site.

A woman who was imprisoned there with Hlukhivska told reporters that she heard the journalist being tortured with electric shocks. “She said that she had been tortured with electricity. You could hear the screams,” the witness said.

The journalist was later transferred to pre-trial detention center No. 2 in Taganrog, Russia, and eventually to detention center No. 3 in Kizel, Perm region. According to a released Ukrainian prisoner of war, Yevhenii Sholudko, he heard Hlukhivska’s name mentioned while receiving medical treatment in the Kizel facility.

He also reported hearing women’s screams from nearby cells and described a “rubber cell” used for punishment, where detainees were left naked without access to basic sanitation.

Slidstvo.Info cited official Russian correspondence confirming that no criminal case has been opened against Hlukhivska. A letter from Russia’s Investigative Committee stated: “No procedural checks were conducted regarding Hlukhivska A.E., no criminal cases were initiated, and she was not detained by the investigative authorities.”

The international organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said it had sent multiple inquiries to the Kizel detention center, the Russian Ministry of Defense, and the Federal Penitentiary Service, but none of the agencies provided a response.

Pauline Maufrais, RSF’s representative in Ukraine, said Hlukhivska is being held incommunicado—a status in which authorities neither confirm the detention nor file charges.

“We do not know where she is or what her condition is. Russia has never acknowledged that she is imprisoned,” Maufrais told Slidstvo.Info.

While other civilians detained alongside Hlukhivska have since been tried in Russian courts, including her colleague Heorhii Levchenko—who received a 16-year sentence for “public calls for extremist activity”—no charges have been brought against Hlukhivska herself.

Earlier, it was reported that Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna was tortured and killed while in Russian captivity, with investigators revealing her body showed signs of abuse and organ removal.

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