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Nadiya Savchenko. Graphic credits: UT
#PlusEurope1 Nadiya Savchenko, a symbol of Ukrainian national dignity and resistance, continues to risk her life to expose the lack of justice in Russia .
A day before a Russian court decides the fate of captive pilot and MP Nadiya Savchenko, Ukraine Today documents a full list of hunger strikes, in protest over her sham trial.
Savchenko says she will continue her hunger strike in a Russian jail until she comes back home ‘either dead or alive'.
Despite calls from across the world to release Ukrainian pilot, who is considered a political prisoner, Russia says it will not discuss handing Savchenko to Kyiv until the court delivers a verdict in her case.
Council of Europe
Daniel Mitov, Chair of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe said that the case of Ms Nadiya Savchenko has been raised on a number of occasions within the Committee of Ministers. The Committee has already expressed its concern about Ms Savchenko’s health condition and called on the Russian authorities to release her without delay on humanitarian grounds.
In his capacity as Chairman of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe he reiterated the call for the release of Ms Savchenko. " I am deeply concerned by the reports of her rapidly deteriorating health," Mr. Mitov said.
Meanwhile, he reminds that Ms Savchenko, like any other person under Russian jurisdiction, is entitled to the right to a fair trial and appropriate detention conditions.
"I insist once again on the importance for any member State of the Council of Europe to fully comply with its obligations under the relevant instruments of the Council of Europe, in particular the European Convention on Human Rights," Mr. Mitov concluded.
European Union
Last week, Donald Tusk, the European Council President, after the meeting of the EU leaders with Turkey remarked: "I discussed with President Petro Poroshenko, among others, the case of Nadiya Savchenko, who is illegally detained in Russia. We also discussed this issue among leaders and I was asked to express the EU position that calls for the immediate release of Nadiya Savchenko along with Oleh Sentsov and all other Ukrainian citizens held in illegal detention."
Background
On 8 July 2014, authorities in the Russian Federation announced that the former Ukrainian military pilot, Nadiya Savchenko, who is being held in a pre-trial detention centre in Voronezh in the Russian Federation, was being charged with complicity in the killing of two Russian TV journalists on 17 June near Luhansk.
There has been a great deal of controversy surrounding the circumstances of the capture of Ms. Savchenko, with the Russian authorities insisting she crossed the border freely into its territory and was then arrested for having no documents and pretending to be a refugee.
The Ukrainian Government insists she was abducted in Luhansk by the armed groups and was taken to the Russian Federation as a result of an agreement or joint operation between the terrorists in Eastern Ukraine and the Russian secret services.
The Ukrainian Government is appealing to the international community to help free Ms. Savchenko. On 19 June, the office of the Ukrainian Prosecutor General said a criminal investigation was being undertaken into the circumstances leading to the death of 10 persons, including the 2 Russian TV journalists, who were killed in a mortar attack near Luhansk on 17 June. On 10 July, the HRMMU was informed this is now an investigation under Article 258 of the Criminal Code (Terrorism) and the investigation is being handled by the Ukrainian SBU. On 10 July, the Luhansk Ministry of the Interior opened a criminal investigation into the abduction of Ms. Savchenko under Article 146 of the Criminal Code (Illegal confinement or abduction of a person).