Savchenko defense not to contest Rostov court decision declining transfer of her case to Moscow

The lawyers for Ukrainian citizen Nadia Savchenko, who is charged with killing Russian journalists, have no intention of contesting the decision made by the Rostov region's court declining their request for a change of venue, Ilya Novikov, a lawyer for Savchenko, told reporters on Friday.

"My client and I are not surprised by the court's decision. I received an instruction from Nadia Savchenko not to contest this decision in the detention facility yesterday. She wants the trial to begin and end as soon as possible. As to positive things, I want to say we have won a month to prepare for court hearings," Novikov said.

Novikov said he expects the first-instance court to convict Savchenko and sentence her to 25 years in prison.

"Mr Markin in his speech mentioned the figure 25 years. I believe that will be the sentence handed out by the first-instance court," Novikov said.

The lawyer said the Savchenko case is expected to draw attention to the problem that Russian women have no right to be tried by a jury. "Women in Russia have no right to be tried by a jury under the pretext that they [women] are not sentenced to life in prison. I believe depriving a person of the right to be tried by a jury under any pretext constitutes the deprivation of an important right. After the Savchenko trial, we will look into the issue of why women are second-rate people in Russia," Novikov said.

According to earlier reports, the Rostov region's court on Friday declined Savchenko's request for a change of venue and for her trial to be transferred to Moscow. The Savchenko criminal case will be tried by the Donetsk City Court in the Rostov region.