Germany calls for immediate release of Ukrainian pilot
Berlin called on Moscow Wednesday to immediately release a Ukrainian pilot currently on trial in Russia, saying her continued detention is against a peace deal aimed at ending the conflict in Ukraine.
“The trial against Savchenko violates the spirit and letter of the Minsk agreement, we are therefore making a joint call with our partners for the immediate release of Nadiya Savchenko on humanitarian grounds,” said Steffen Seibert, a spokesman for the German government.
Russia and Ukraine, along with Germany and France, agreed to a truce deal on Ukraine in the Belorussian capital of Minsk in February 2015. The ceasefire agreement has effectively reduced hostilities in eastern regions of Ukraine, where fighting between pro-Russians and Kiev forces has left more than 6,000 people dead since April 2014.
Seibert said Germany was closely following the trial of Savchenko, adding that Berlin is concerned with the way the pilot had been treated behind bars in Russia.
The official said Germany is particularly concerned over the health condition of Savchenko, who has been reportedly on hunger strike and put into solitary confinement, adding that Berlin also regards the methods used to interrogate the Ukrainian pilot as “questionable” and against “international standards.”
Savchenko faces up to 23 years in prison for her alleged role in killing two Russian state television journalists in a mortar attack that was carried out in June 2014, two months after a rebellion began against Kiev among the pro-Russian population in Ukraine's east.
The 34-year-old, known for her services during the Iraq war, announced her protest action during a court session on March 3.
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