Petition is available for signing at: https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/President_of_the_Russian_Federation_Vladimir_Putin_Release_prisoner_Nadiya_Savchenko/?eNFxgjb
Dear Mr. President:
A Ukrainian prisoner is on hunger strike, and is approaching death. Without sympathy for Nadiya Savchenko's party, group, or ideology, we appeal for her to be released, as a gesture of good will, for the sake of peace.
A Ukrainian prisoner is on hunger strike, and is approaching death. Without sympathy for Nadiya Savchenko's party, group, or ideology, we appeal for her to be released, as a gesture of good will, for the sake of peace.
Noam Chomsky
INCIDENT AT A ROADBLOCK
Nadiya Savchenko, a Ukrainian military pilot, volunteered to the Aidar Battalion.
On June 17, she was forward observer, directing fire; a Novorossiya roadblock was shelled, and two Russian reporters were killed. It’s difficult to present the attack upon a roadblock guarded by APC's as a war crime; a video of the event confirms this was an attack upon a military target.
CAPTURE
On the same day, Savchenko was captured; they put a bag on her head and took her to Russia--it was an “extraordinary rendition”.
« Vladimir Markin, a spokesman for the Investigative Committee, claimed she had crossed voluntarily into Russia. “It turned out that she crossed the Russian border without documents, posing as a refugee,” Mr. Markin said. He added that Ms. Savchenko had been detained during a routine check of documents by the authorities. »
Having presented such an unlikely official story, prosecutors have good reason to delay and avoid trial. Savchenko's defense claims that her capture took place one hour before the death of the reporters. In the West or in Russia, when the prosecutor is less than competent, or if there is coordination between prosecutors and judges, facts and alibis become secondary.
After suffering heavy casualties in July and August, the Aidar Battalion was reported to be responsible for robberies, abductions, and murders, as discussed in an Amnesty International report.
One released prisoner says that he met Savchenko and that "she personally tried to kill us [prisoners]." It is quite possible that she may have mistreated prisoners; if so, she should have faced her accusers, in public hearings, in Novorossiya, last summer. Instead, she was guantanamized. To allow such a high-value prisoner to commit suicide now, seems very unwise.
One released prisoner says that he met Savchenko and that "she personally tried to kill us [prisoners]." It is quite possible that she may have mistreated prisoners; if so, she should have faced her accusers, in public hearings, in Novorossiya, last summer. Instead, she was guantanamized. To allow such a high-value prisoner to commit suicide now, seems very unwise.
ELECTED TO PARLIAMENT AND NOMINATED TO PACE
A video of her interrogation was published, in which she refused to give military information. Savchenko became famous; she was elected deputy in parliament and was nominated to PACE, the Parlamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. A resolution of her case was underway, as the Russian delegation at PACE, voted in favor of her release and began to take appropriate action.
PACE took immediate counter-action and ”decided again to strip Russia of the right to vote or take part in the assembly's governing bodies until April 2015.”
As expected, the Russian delegates left in a huff, ending their participation in PACE and their efforts to save Savchenko.
BOTH SIDES HAVE SOME USE FOR SAVCHENKO, PROVIDED SHE IS DEAD
Dead and sanctified as national hero, Savchenko will be extremely useful to the West. There was burning concern, in the souls of fourteen EU foreign ministers holding Savchenko's picture on February 9; yet, by February 12, that concern had burned away, and they did not bother to specify her fate in the Minsk 2 Agreement.
Dead and gone, Savchenko will save Russia’s Investigative Committee from the embarrassment and bad press of an absurd show trial.
In her name, as payback, dissenters will be beaten and killed in Ukrainian dungeons.
The Free World public relations machine will use her death like it used MH-17, efficiently and competently. The tragic story of "Ukraine's Joan of Arc" will appear in gossip and fashion magazines, to whip up hatred against Russia, even in the least informed circles.
New and better opportunities will be available, to turn this conflict, from autonomy dispute to civil war to European war, and quite possibly, eventually, God willing, into nuclear war.
The Free World public relations machine will use her death like it used MH-17, efficiently and competently. The tragic story of "Ukraine's Joan of Arc" will appear in gossip and fashion magazines, to whip up hatred against Russia, even in the least informed circles.
New and better opportunities will be available, to turn this conflict, from autonomy dispute to civil war to European war, and quite possibly, eventually, God willing, into nuclear war.
