page_title: Nadiya Savchenko
section_title: Detention and trial in the Russian Federation
hierarchical_section_title: Nadiya Savchenko / Detention and trial in the Russian Federation
caption_attribution_description: English: On January 26, Ukrainians from greater Seattle area came out to picket the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in support of "Freedom for Nadiya Savchenko". Conscientious Ukrainians answered the call of Ukrainian Association of Washington State to protest the actions of Kremlin in Ukraine and to join the worldwide response in support of Nadiya Savchenko. Protesters presented the Consulate with the letter to the Consul General of Russia from Ukrainians of Washington State, demanding immediate end to Russian aggression against Ukraine, as well as release of Ukrainian soldiers captured illegally in Ukraine from Russian jails, including a member of PACE, Nadiya Savchenko.Українська: Підтримати акцію «Свободу Надії Савченко» вийшли українці, які проживають в околицях міста Сіетлу. На заклик Асоціації українців штату Вашингтон під будинком, в якому розташоване Генеральне консульство Росії, зійшлися небайдужі українці, щоб виразити свій протест діям Кремля та долучитися до всесвітньої акції на підтримку Надії Савченко. Учасники мітингу передали лист Генеральному консулу Росії від всіх українців штату Вашингтон з вимогою негайно зупинити агресію проти України, а також звільнити всіх полонених, в тому числі депутата ПАРЄ, Надію Савченко.
context_page_description: Nadiya Viktorivna Savchenko is a Ukrainian politician and former Army aviation pilot in the Ukrainian Ground Forces.
  People's Deputy of Ukraine 8th convocation from
  27 November 2014 to 24 July 2019.
  During the 2014 War in Donbass Savchenko, a first lieutenant in the Ukrainian Ground Forces, served as instructor with a volunteer infantry unit, the Aidar Battalion. In June 2014, she was captured by pro-Russian forces in eastern Ukraine and handed over to Russia where she was accused of having directed artillery fire that killed two Russian state-television journalists at the positions of pro-Russian forces in Ukraine.
  She was subsequently charged and convicted of murder and illegally crossing Russian state border despite being abducted from Ukrainian territory one hour before the deaths of the journalists. One of her lawyers, Mark Feygin, said she was a prisoner-of-war and called on the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations to demand her immediate release and that of the other Ukrainian POWs lest Russia be held in violation of the Geneva Conventions.
context_section_description: On 8 July 2014, there were media reports that Nadiya Savchenko was being kept in a detention centre in city of Voronezh, the Russian Federation. On 9 July, Vladimir Markin, spokesman for Russia's Investigative Committee (a federal agency subordinate to the Russian President), confirmed that Savchenko was indeed held in Voronezh where she was facing charges of complicity in the 17 June killing of two Russian journalists, Igor Vladimirovich Kornelyuk (a correspondent for All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company), and sound producer Anton Voloshin, who died during a mortar attack on a rebel checkpoint outside Luhansk. Ukrainian officials said the reporters did not comply with safety requirements and were not accredited. According to Savchenko's defence team, she was alibied by the billing data for Savchenko's and Kornelyuk's mobile phones, provided by Ukrainian Security Service, as she had already been captured by the Russian-backed separatists one hour before the mortar attack that killed Russian journalists.
  Since late 2015, Russia's Investigative Committee insisted she crossed the border voluntarily without documents, and in the guise of a refugee. This contradicted previously published evidence and media reports: long before the alleged crossing, Russia's pro-Kremlin TV channel NTV reported that Savchenko had been captured by "rebels" and then handed over to the Russian authorities. Ukrainian officials said she had been illegally taken to Russia by Russian intelligence services in collaboration with pro-Russian rebels. In 2016, journalist Semen Zakruzhnyi followed the Investigative Committee's alleged route pointing out to numerous inconsistencies and concluding that neither Savchenko nor Russian investigators ever visited the places mentioned in the indictment.
  Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a strong protest against the illegal transfer of Savchenko to Russia, calling the kidnapping of the Ukrainian citizen an act of state terrorism. On 8 July, President Petro Poroshenko instructed the General Prosecutor of Ukraine to take all measures to bring about Savchenko's release. In response, Vladimir Markin at Russia's Investigative Committee claimed that Savchenko was a terrorist and that the chances of her being released were on a par with those of Petro Poroshenko replacing Barack Obama as President of the United States.
  During her long trial in Russia, Savchenko has been held in a cage—which is standard practice in Russia for defendants held without bail, despite the European Court of Human Rights ruling that defendants should never be held in a cage in the courtroom. On 10 July, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said in a website statement that her detention and trial is "A violation of all international agreements, all norms of law and is unacceptable." President Poroshenko emphasized that "Nadiya Savchenko is a symbol of the struggle for Ukraine. While in captivity she has demonstrated the true, strong, martial Ukrainian spirit of a serviceman who doesn't betray the Motherland." The President also said he had ordered a new lawyer for Savchenko.
  As of 11 July 2015, Savchenko's Russian defence lawyer is Mark Feygin, who is known for his defence of Pussy Riot. On 27 August 2014, during a hearing at the Sovetsky district court of Voronezh, Savchenko appeared wearing a T-shirt with the Ukrainian state symbol (Tryzub) and spoke exclusively in the Ukrainian language. She also stated that she had been detained in Russia since 24 June, not 30 June as the Russian investigation reported. At the conclusion of the hearing, the court extended Savchenko's detention for a further two months and ordered that she be sent for a month to the Serbsky Institute for a forensic psychological evaluation, which Savchenko opposed.
  On 22 December 2014, Moscow City Court upheld the decision to extend the arrest of Savchenko until the end of the investigation, which was scheduled to be concluded by 13 February 2015. Savchenko subsequently began a hunger strike. The European Union and the United States have condemne
caption: A rally nearby Russian Consulate in Seattle in support of freedom for Savchenko, 2015
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