PACE Resolution is step towards release of Nadia Savchenko – Tymoshenko
Batkivschyna faction leader Yulia Tymoshenko has urged the delegation of the Presidential Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), headed by PACE President Anne Brasseur, to do everything possible to push through a resolution on the release of Ukraine's PACE delegation member, Nadia Savchenko.
"I urge you at the PACE session to adopt a resolution calling for the release of Nadia Savchenko. We must use all available channels of influence," Tymoshenko said during a meeting with the PACE delegation on Thursday.
Tymoshenko stressed that Savchenko has been on a hunger strike for 34 days and that her life is in danger.
"By not eating, Nadia is trying to draw the world's attention to the situation in Ukraine, to the undeclared war waged by Russia against our country, to the murder of civilians, basically to the war against us," she said.
The parties also discussed the situation in Ukraine, particularly the rights and freedoms of Ukrainian citizens that remain in Crimea and occupied parts of Donbas and the situation with IDPs in Ukraine. "The situation in Donbas can be resolved only with the help of the entire democratic world. Ukraine can not be left one-on-one against the aggressor," said the Batkivschyna leader.
She thanked Brasseur and the PACE delegation for coming to Ukraine in this severe times for the country.
It was reported earlier that Savchenko, a 33-year-old pilot, was fighting with the Aidar volunteer battalion in eastern Ukraine when she was captured by militants in June near the town of Schastia, a suburb of Luhansk. It was stated on July 8 that she was being held at the Voronezh pre-trial detention facility in Russia.
On July 9, Russia indicted her for complicity in murder. Savchenko has rejected all charges. Ukraine is demanding her release.
Savchenko went on a hunger strike on December 15, in response to the prison's failure to provide her with medical care. She has lost some hearing since being imprisoned.
