Moscow City Court has approved the extension of the arrest of Nadiya Savchenko, accused by Russia of being an accomplice in the murder of Russian journalists.
Speaking in court, Savchenko’s lawyer Nikolai Polozov asked the judge to rescind the arrest order, citing his client’s immunity as a Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) delegate.
In the lawyer’s opinion, Savchenko ought to be released immediately.
The State Prosecutor asked, in turn to dismiss the appeal. The lower court extended Savchenko’s arrest until Sept.30, he said.
Savchenko is to be tried soon by the Donetsk City Court in the Rostov Oblast. The defendant’s request for a change of the place of her trial to Moscow had been earlier declined.
Since July 2014, Savchenko has been in Russia, arrested over charges in the murder of Russian journalists Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin in the Luhansk Oblast.
