VORONEZH, July 25 (RIA Novosti) – The defense of Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko, accused of being involved in a mortar attack that killed two Russian journalists, plans to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) against her arrest, the pilot’s attorney Mark Feigin told journalists Friday.
“We think this decision [Savchenko’s arrest] to be groundless, the arguments of our appeal seemed convincing to us for this decision to be changed,” Feigin said.
Earlier Friday, Voronezh’s regional court left without changes the measure of restraint for the Ukrainian pilot, who will be detained until August 30.
According to Feigin, despite the fact that the rationale of the ruling was not announced, the court ignored the fact that Savchenko was allegedly kidnapped from Ukrainian territory and brought to Russia for the trial.
“We want to further appeal, in particular, to ECHR. Starting Monday we will begin to draw the appeal after receiving the full court decision with the rationale part,” Feigin noted.
The attorney underlined that the Ukrainian side had already appealed to ECHR and together with the upcoming appeal, Savchenko’s case would be a priority for the European court.
At the moment, Nadezhda Savchenko is held in custody in the Russian city of Voronezh. Russian investigative officers claim that she was a fire spotter during a mortar attack near the eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk on June 17. As a result of the attack, two Russian journalists, Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin, were fatally wounded.
