Observers say that Nadiya Savchenko will continue dry hunger strike
Members of the Rostov Civic Observers Commission report that Nadiya Savchenko is in stable condition. She drinks water and has no intention of ending her hunger strike. On Saturday, public observers Valentina Cherevatenko and Vladimir Katasonov visited Savchenko, who is being held in isolation in Novocherkassk, Russia.
Cherevatenko and Katasonov later related her condition to noted Russian photojournalist Victoria Ivleva, who relayed the observations on Facebook. According to her post, Savchenko’s condition is stable, her blood pressure and temperature are measured twice a day and she does not refuse medical examinations. There is no indication of any force-feeding. Nadezhda simply takes water.
Cherevatenko cited Nadezhda Savchenko as saying that "...everybody realizes that I’ll not stop my hunger strike, I will not be imprisoned in this country and I will not live here.”
On March 10th, Savchenko’s lawyer Mark Feygin said that she stopped the dry hunger strike upon Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s personal request. However, it was later revealed that the letter the “President” had sent was a forgery. Feygin intends to institute criminal proceedings against two pranksters who confessed to being the real authors of the letter.
On March 21st-22nd, the Donetsk City Court of the Rostov region will announce a verdict in Savchenko’s case.
Nadiya Savchenko has been charged with the murder of two Russian journalists. It is widely believed that Savchenko was in fact captured by Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) separatists in eastern Ukraine and was illegally transported to Russia, where the case was fabricated against her.
On March 2nd, the prosecutor’s office requested that she be sentenced to 23 years in a penal colony plus a fine of 100,000 rubles ($1,400).
Savchenko declared a dry hunger strike on March 3rd after the Donetsk City Court in the Rostov region announced that she would not be given a chance to make her final closing statement during a court hearing.
Demands and protests for her immediate release are taking place in Ukraine, Russia and other nations around the World.