Olena Savchuk
The lawyer for Nadia Savchenko, imprisoned by Russia on false murder
charges, is calling for an international rally for her on March 9 as the trial
against the Ukrainian pilot reaches its ends. A rally will take place at noon
on March 6 on Kyiv's Independence Square.
Mark Feigin, the attorney for the imprisoned
Savchenko, also called on people to take to the streets for the third global
day to #FreeSavchenko.
Savchenko announced a complete hunger strike on March
4. She started refusing to drink water and eat food to protest against an
unexpected delay in her closing remarks to March 9.
In the address, released by her attorneys, the
jailed pilot says that Russia will anyway return her to Ukraine “alive or
dead.”
The 34-year-old officer of Ukrainian armed
forces fasted for 80 days earlier but drank water. Lawyers fear for her life
with a new fast because of health problems caused by the previous hunger
strike.
Savchenko’s attorneys believe judges decided to
postpone her final remarks to delay her date of sentencing.
“As soon as the last address is delivered, the
court is obliged to pronounce the decision,” Feigin told Gordon news agency.
“Or perhaps those who are really making the decision in the Kremlin are not
ready to tell the date.”
Few doubt that Savchenko’s fate will be decided
by the Kremlin. But President Vladimir Putin's spokesman declined to comment on
Savchenko's decision to fast. "This is not an issue that has anything to
do with our agenda," said Dmitry Peskov.
Savchenko is imprisoned in Russia on charges of
killing two Russian journalists in Luhansk Oblast in June 2014. Prosecutors
demand a 23-year prison sentence for her. Savchenko denies the accusations. She
was kidnapped in Ukraine and taken to Russia.
International support for Savchenko
The
European Union delegation to Ukraine tweeted that “the case of Savchenko has
been consistently raised by the EU with the Russian authorities," along with
the cases of other Ukrainian citizens illegally imprisoned in Russia.
A small picket in front of the Germany Embassy to
Ukraine in Kyiv on March 5 also tried to draw attention to the problem of
Ukrainians held by Russia and eastern Ukraine controlled by Russia-backed
separatists.
“We do
not see the help of the international community in releasing our hostages,”
Yevgeniya Kopalko, a representative of the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights
Union complained at the rally. “Especially after the German statement following
the recent meeting of the Normandy four foreign ministers.”
She said diplomats never risked to go to
the "occupied territory where there are armed militants and terrorists,
but they are trying to persuade us that they are normal people who want to hold
polls."
Oleg Yeremeyenko, another lawyer from
Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union, insisted that -- prior to any elections
-- imprisoned Ukrainians detained must be freed.
"We came out to remind the German
government that before telling a sovereign state of Ukraine that we have to
hold some elections in Donbas under barrels of Russian rifles and tanks,
prisoners of war should be released," Yeremeyenko told the Kyiv Post.
Following talks in Paris on March 3,
Germany and France urged Ukraine and Russia make compromises in order to hold a
local vote in the separatist-controlled east of the country.
“Sometimes I also have the impression that
Moscow and Kyiv forgot how serious the situation is and what pressure we are
under to implement Minsk faster because otherwise our efforts risk losing their
legitimacy and their credibility,” German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter
Steinmeier said.
Meanwhile, cease-fire violations persist
in easten Ukraine. Two soldiers were killed in a confrontation with
Russian-backed separatists near Mariupol and five more troops were wounded in
different sectors along the frontline, Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy
Lysenko reported on March 5.
Related post: Ministerfor Europe statement on Nadiya Savchenko
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