13 January 2015

MEDIA RELEASE
 

Ukrainian World Congress calls for the immediate release
by Russian authorities of Ukrainian MP Nadiya Savchenko

 

The Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) urges the international community, including human rights organizations, to demand the immediate release by Russian authorities of former Ukrainian Air Force pilot, Member of Ukrainian Parliament and delegate to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Lieutenant Nadiya Savchenko, who remains imprisoned for political considerations.
 
The prosecution by Russian authorities of Nadiya Savchenko, kidnapped in Ukraine and forcibly transported across the border into the Russian Federation, is in clear violation of international law and clause 5 of the Minsk Protocol of 5 September 2014.

 
In addition to the limited access to legal representation and court proceedings, Nadiya Savchenko was subjected to a forensic psychiatric evaluation against her will.

 
The UWC is particularly troubled by the latest report that Nadiya Savchenko, on a hunger strike since 13 December 2014, has been transferred to solitary confinement.

 
Despite the fact that the international community has unequivocally denounced the actions of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine as those of a foreign aggressor, Russian authorities continue brazenly to contravene their international commitments by violating the sovereignty of Ukraine.
 
“The kidnapping, imprisonment, involuntary psychiatric evaluation and solitary confinement of Ukrainian Member of Parliament Nadiya Savchenko are all reprehensible acts that call for immediate and unequivocal action by the international community,” stated UWC President Eugene Czolij.

 

The Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) is the international coordinating body for Ukrainian communities in the diaspora representing the interests of over 20 million Ukrainians. The UWC has member organizations in 34 countries and ties with Ukrainians in 14 additional countries. Founded in 1967, the UWC was recognized in 2003 by the United Nations Economic and Social Council as a non-governmental organization (NGO) with special consultative status.