Captive Ukrainian pilot not to be amnestied

Ukrainian Nadezhda Savchenko’s final charges were pronounced on April 24. She is accused of ‘helping to kill two or more people, the murder attempt of two or more people out of political hatred committed by a group of people and illegal crossing the the Russian border’, official representative of the Russian Investigation Committee Vladimir Markin said.

Savchenko will not come within the amnesty dated for the 70^th anniversary of the Victory Day in Russia, her lawyer Nikolai Polozov said. She is accused of a heinous crime. However, the provisions of Minsk Agreements may be used for the Ukrainian, Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov said. Anyway, her case needs to be considered in court first, he claimed.

Nadezhda Savchenko was arrested on charges of the murder of Russian journalists Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Valoshyn near Lugansk. Russia claims that she illegally crossed the border. However, Savchenko says that she was captured by militants and transported to Russia where she was handed over to the Russian special services. The Ukrainian spent over 2 months on a hunger strike in Russian prison.

Nadezhda Savchenko will turn 34 on May 11.

Photo: ria.ru