Nadiya Savchenko’s sentence to be pronounced in Russia today
A Russian court will today pronounce the sentence to Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko who he is accused of being connected with the death of two Russian TV journalists who died in Lugansk Oblast of Ukraine on June 17, 2014. According to the investigators, Savchenko directed artillery fire at peaceful citizens near the village of Metallist where the journalists died.
The pilot pleads not guilty. According to her lawyers, she had been captured before the journalists were killed. The shelling was started by armed ‘LPR’ militants. The prosecution demands 23 years of imprisonment for Savchenko.
The woman was to pronounce her last plea on March 3 but the court delayed it until March 9. Savchenko was indignant at it and went on a hunger strike in protest against the procrastination. The pilot’s lawyers will not appeal the sentence because the negotiations about the exchange of Savchenko for the captive Russian POW kept in Ukraine cannot begin before the sentence comes into force.
Belarusian opposition activists are planning to gather once again near the Russian Embassy in Minsk today to express solidarity with the Ukrainian. The previous picket was organized on March 7. About 20 people took part, including Zmitser Dashkevich, Ales Mihalevich, Ales Makayeu and others. Some of them were holding posters ‘Putin is a Killer’, ‘Putler Go to Nurenberg’, ‘Russia is War’ and ‘Glory to Heroes’. Activist Nina Bahinskaya brought a white-red-white flag to the embassy.
Actions in support of the Ukrainian pilot are being held all over the world now.
300 world cultural, science and business figures including Nobel Prize laureate Svetlana Alexievich have signed an appeal addressed to the European leaders. They demand to do everything possible to release Nadiya Savchenko abducted by the Russian authorities.
