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Ukrainian pilot Savchenko vows to continue refusing water, food

March 09, 2016

Former Ukrainian army pilot Nadezhda Savchenko looks out from a glass-walled cage as she attends a court hearing in the southern border town of Donetsk in Rostov region, Russia, today. Savchenko says she has nothing left to lose in continuing her hunger strike. – Reuters pic, March 9, 2016.Ukrainian military pilot Nadiya Savchenko, who is on trial over the killing of two Russian journalists during the Ukraine conflict, vowed Wednesday to press on with a hunger strike without water unless Russia releases her.

The high-profile case has raised deep concern in the West and in Kiev, where the government denounced the trial as "farcical".

"I will continue my dry hunger strike," the 34-year-old helicopter pilot said in her final address to the court in the small southern Russian town of Donetsk.

Savchenko, who has been detained by Russia since June 2014, announced her protest action in court last Thursday, rejecting both food and water.

Appearing feverish and visibly thinner after five days of fasting, she said Wednesday she intends to continue the hunger strike if the court takes longer than a week to announce a verdict and sentence.

"Maybe I will live that long," Savchenko declared.

The judge said the verdict would be handed down on March 21 and 22.

"Here's my final word," Savchenko said, raising her middle finger in a defiant gesture at the judge and prosecution.

Refusing both food and water is known in Russia as a "dry hunger strike" and was a method of last resort for some Soviet dissidents under Communism.

Savchenko is seen by her compatriots as a symbol of resistance against the Kremlin, accused of fuelling the conflict in eastern Ukraine which has claimed more than 9,000 lives since April 2014.

The prosecution has sought a 23-year jail sentence for Savchenko over the killing of two journalists from Russian public broadcaster VGTRK in shelling in Ukraine's eastern Lugansk region in June, two months after the pro-Russia uprising began.

Prosecutors say she was involved in her capacity as a volunteer in a Ukrainian battalion.

She denies the charges and says she was kidnapped even before the attack and smuggled across the border into Russia.

One of her lawyers, Nikolai Polozov, said Savchenko's health had significantly deteriorated over the past few days, adding that she was feverish and her temperature had risen to about 38 degrees Celsius.

"Remember – we are playing with my life. And I will win," Savchenko told the court.

"The stakes are high and I have nothing to lose."

Her lawyers said they will not be able to persuade Savchenko to halt her hunger strike unless the Russian authorities release her immediately or at least provide guarantees that they will do so.

"She will either be force-fed or die," said Polozov.

Savchenko, who has been elected to Ukraine's parliament since being detained, used her final address to predict the downfall of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"There will be a Maidan in Russia," she said, referring to the popular uprising that ousted a Kremlin-backed regime in Kiev in 2014.

Savchenko then sang Ukraine's national anthem as her mother and sister joined in from the public benches, placing their hands over their hearts.

Kiev demanded an end to the "farcical" trial and urged Russia to release Savchenko immediately, calls backed by the United States and the European Union.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk called the trial "a challenge to the entire civilised world".

"The entire civilised world must – not just in words but in action – prove that in this world there are human rights and respect for the individual."

The US State Department has called for the Ukrainian to be released "immediately", while the European Union described her hunger strike as "extremely worrisome".

Five EU member states have called for sanctions against Russian officials involved in her detention, Lithuania said Wednesday

Savchenko has fasted before to protest the accusations against her but has never before refused water.

Her lawyers said her mother and sister as well as Ukrainian doctors and diplomats would not be allowed to see Savchenko before March 21.

Hundreds of angry Ukrainians have picketed Russia's embassy in Kiev, pelting it with eggs and stones at the weekend. – AFP, March 9, 2016.