15:32, 29 March 2016

Savchenko announces new hunger strike

Nadezhda Savchenko in Donetsk City Court, March 22, 2016. Photo by Konstantin Volgin for the ‘Caucasian Knot’.

The Ukrainian aviator Nadezhda Savchenko, sentenced to 22 years in colony for the alleged murder of Russian journalists, handed over a letter that announced the start of a new dry hunger strike, said Mark Feigin, her advocate.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on March 22, the Donetsk City Court of the Rostov Region sentenced Nadezhda Savchenko to 22 years of imprisonment in a common-security penal colony and a fine of 30,000 roubles. She was found guilty of involvement in the killing of Russian journalists not far from Lugansk and illegal crossing of the border with the Russian Federation.

The statement about Savchenko’s hunger strike was posted today by the advocate in his Twitter. It notes that Ms Savchenko will go on her dry hunger strike on April 6 and will continue it until the tipping point.

"Besides, the Ukrainian aviatress said that she would quit the SIZO (pre-trial prison) only to go to Ukraine, not to colony," the "Interfax" reports referring to the above letter.

Mark Feigin also did not rule out that the exchange of Savchenko could have been discussed at the recent talks of the US Secretary of State John Kerry in Moscow, the "Interfax-Ukraine" reports.

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