Diplomat's drawing causes conflict at trial in Nadezhda Savchenko case

At the Donetsk City Court, where the criminal case against Ukrainian aviator Nadezhda Savchenko is being considered, a conflict has occurred because of a drawing made in a sketchbook by a staff member of the French Embassy, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

At the end of the court session, a special forces fighter of the Federal Bailiff Service, who was in a mask, made a comment to Mathilde de Germain, the first secretary of the Embassy of France in Russia, who attended the trial. This fact has attracted the attention of the judge, and he asked them what had happened.

The special forces fighter has complained that the representative of the diplomatic corps "was depicting everybody." The judge demanded from Mathilde de Germain to show her drawings, but in response, she tried to explain in Russian that earlier, she had seen drawings from Russian trials and that she did not think that drawing was forbidden.

The judge has stated that it is forbidden to make photographs and pictures during trials and again demanded from Mathilde de Germain to show her notes. Advocate Mark Feighin has stood up for the French diplomat and said that diplomatic representatives have a special status and cannot be searched by law.

Advocate Nikolai Polozov has said that the Criminal Procedure Code contains no ban on making drawings in the courtroom. In response, the judge said that the Criminal Procedure Code also does not contain a permission to make drawings during trials. As a result, the discussion has been completed.

After the court session, the consulate employee showed journalists that she tried to draw a Nadezhda Savchenko's profile in her sketchbook.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.