Russian human rights defenders urge to put Savchenko under house arrest

Member of the human rights council of the Russian President’s Administration Elena Masyuk has urged to put Nadezhda Savchenko under house arrest. The Ukrainian pilot has been on a hunger strike in a Moscow detention centre for 70 days. Masyuk has urged the other members of the council to support the appeal.

“Before you, my dear colleagues, start opposing to my suggestions because you may consider Savchenko a criminal and murderer and say that the court should make such decisions, remember my words: Nadezhda Savchenko may die one of these days,” Masyuk said.

The Ukrainian pilot’s health condition has dramatically deteriorated recently, the human rights defender said. She has been refusing from injections of glucose for 15 days and it has resulted in serious problems with her internals.  That is why Elena Masyuk has suggested putting Savchenko under a house arrest in the Ukrainian Embassy or in a rented flat in Moscow.

Moscow City Court prolonged Savchenko’s arrest until mid-May and refused to change her measure of detention on February 24. The defense doubts that the case may be sent to court because investigators cannot finish the investigation.

Nadezhda Savchenko is accused of the death of two Russian journalists near Lugansk last summer. The pilot pleads not guilty, BBC reports.