US Ambassador to Ukraine: Trial of Savchenko is 'farcical and outrageous'
The U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt recently voiced his indignation at the trial of Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko. “I was glad to see [her] yesterday. Nadezhda’s trial is farcical and outrageous. She has to be released,” Pyatt tweeted.
In Russia, Savchenko was accused of murdering two employees of Russian state television who had stayed illegally in Ukraine while providing intelligence support to armed, pro-Russian separatists. She was also accused of the attempted murder of a group of separatists, as well as illegally entering Russia.
On March 3rd, Savchenko was set to make a concluding statement during her trial in the city of Donetsk, in the Rostov region of Russia. Instead, the presiding judge closed the session and adjourned the court until March 9th. Savchenko then declared a dry hunger strike, which she had threatened to do if the court verdict was ever delayed.
The prosecution seeks 23 years of imprisonment as penalty for her alleged crimes. Savchenko said she would not appeal such a sentence. In her latest comments published in social networks the day before, Savchenko refused to acknowledge her guilt, the sentence or even the legitimacy of the Russian trial.
Ukraine and the governments of Western countries have urged Moscow to release her.