Savchenko pays fine as part of her sentence
Nadiya Savchenko has paid a 30,000 ruble ($455) fine as part of the sentence that was issued by a Russian court in March, RBC-Ukraine reported. The payment of the fine was required for Savchenko to file the documents necessary for her extradition to Ukraine.
According to Savchenko’s mother, her daughter at first refused to pay, as the documents stated that she had illegally crossed the border from Ukraine to Russia, a charge that Savchenko denies.
The Ukrainian consulate reportedly provided Savchenko with the funds necessary to pay the fine.
In March, a Russian court found Savchenko guilty of complicity in the killing of two Russian journalists and sentenced her to 22 years in prison.
The judge in the Russian town of Donetsk said Savchenko had been driven by "political hatred".
"A propaganda machine is at work here, absent of justice and freedom," Savchenko’s lawyer wrote on Twitter.
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.
Rallies in support of her immediate release have taken place in Ukraine, Russia and other countries around the World, and many Western leaders consider the case to be little more than a show trial.