Kyiv protests decision to forward Savchenko case to court, insists on her liberation

Kyiv protests decision to forward Savchenko case to court, insists on her liberation

KYIV. July 15 (Interfax) - The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has issued a protest against the Russian Prosecutor General's Office decision to forward a criminal case against Ukrainian parliamentarian and pilot Nadia Savchenko to the Donetsk City Court in Russia's Rostov region to consider it on its merits.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said it was sure that "the defense team will refute absolutely all charges fabricated against her during the court hearing."

The case against Savchenko is politically motivated, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said. "By making this decision, Russia once again demonstrated its remoteness from commonly recognized principles of democracy, legality, rule of law and openness," it said.

"The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry demands that the Russian side immediately free Nadia Savchenko and fully comply with its international law obligations and the Minsk agreements," the Foreign Ministry said.

Savchenko has been under arrest in Russia on charges of complicity in the killing of Russian journalists Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin in the Luhansk region since July 2014.

An indictment against Savchenko was recently endorsed and forwarded to the Donetsk City Court in the Rostov region.