PACE calls for Savchenko's immediate release
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has called on Russia to immediately release former Ukrainian pilot, Nadiya Savchenko.
“The continued detention of Savchenko is only worsening Russia’s international image and its relations with European countries. Savchenko’s release would be a strong move towards complying with the Minsk Agreements. It would also be a step towards resolving the current conflict in eastern Ukraine. Russia should not waste this opportunity,” a statement issued by PACE rapporteurs for Russia and Ukraine read. It was published on the 14th of March.
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.
Savchenko was elected to the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada in absentia in October of 2014, and became an official delegate of the PACE several months later.
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 countries around the World.