Ukrainian pilot Savchenko refuses to stop hunger strike - Russian presidential Human Rights Council head
MOSCOW. Feb 3 (Interfax) - Head of the Russian presidential Human Rights Council Mikhail Fedotov and head of the Fair Assistance charity foundation Yelizaveta Glinka have met with Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko at a Russian pretrial detention facility, the Human Rights Council reported on Tuesday.
"There have been no complaints from Savchenko. The only problem she indicated is that she has a large box with letters coming to her, which she wanted to send to mother in Kyiv, something the detention facility administration would not allow her to do. We looked into the problem and suggested that the letters could be passed through lawyers. We hope the issue will be settled in the near future," the council quoted Fedotov as saying.
Fedotov and Glinka tried to persuade Savchenko to stop her hunger strike but failed to do so, it said.
Savchenko went on a hunger strike on December 3, 2014, which she vowed to stop only if she is freed and returns to Ukraine.
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 the militia in June near the town of Shchastya, a suburb of Luhansk. It was said on July 8 that she was being held at the Voronezh pre-trial detention facility in Russia.
Savchenko was brought to Moscow on September 24. The Russian Investigative Committee has indicted her for complicity in the killing of Russian journalists in the Luhansk region in June 2014. Savchenko refused to plead guilty.
Moscow's Basmanny Court ruled on October 27, 2014 to extend Savchenko's pretrial detention until February 13, 2015.
