Kyiv, December 30, 2015. On December 17 Nadiya Savchenko went on her second hunger strike. Previous one lasted for 83 days in a row. She also claimed her intention to go on dry hunger strike after the court renders the judgment. “That is why the court hearing has been rescheduled for 2016. It is obvious that after the holidays start no one will be able to control her,” said Nadiya’s sister Vira Savchenko at a press briefing at Ukraine Crisis Media Center.
On January 13 the court will restart its work. According to Vira Savchenko Nadiya’s defense counts on testimony of “MTS” staff and of the representative of the Moscow astronomy institute who using the shadows position on photo and video proof discovered that the time when the journalists were killed and when Nadiya Savchenko was taken captive do not match the time voiced by the prosecution.
Vira Savchenko also recalled that the President of the Russian Federation spoke about the need to exchange “all for all”. However such agreements were not reached at the recent negotiations session in Minsk. “I herewith call on the Ukrainian politicians and on our President to start a tradition – to give press conferences and give us first-hand information on what has been agreed upon […] or openly respond to our questions,” says Savchenko.
She also noted that even being a political prisoner Nadiya keeps being a Ukrainian MP and a member of the Ukrainian delegation to PACE at the same time. She is the author of the Law of Ukraine no.3413 that changes the procedure used by the court to calculate pre-trial detention term. According to the law a day spent in a pre-trial detention center is equal to two days of imprisonment. “Unfortunately our judicial and law enforcement systems are not much different from the Russian ones. I am saying this from my observations both here and there. […] For the moment we have the same practice as in Russia [an innocent person is accused of a crime to close the case],” explained Vira Savchenko. According to her Nadiya is also sending appeals as an MP: majority of them are regarding corruption in hospitals and abuses by chief doctors. “We already have certain results. We are happy that Nadiya’s voice is heard,” she noted.
Recent appeal to Nadiya Svachenko came from Kharkiv servicemen. Materials that they passed outline corruption at military bases, cases when money for uniforms is demanded from servicemen as well as problems with granting of ATO veteran status. “We shall pass this information to the Defense Ministry. We hope they will react accordingly. If we do not change our position we will not be able to build the state. Sometimes it is easier and cheaper to destroy an old house and construct a new one instead of reconstructing it,” noted Vira Savchenko.
