You're reading: Savchenko transferred to prison medical unit

MOSCOW - Ukrainian pilot Nadia Savchenko, who is suspected of abetting the killing of Russian journalists, is being transferred to a medical unit in the Matrosskaya Tishina prison due to weight loss, her lawyer Ilya Novikov told Interfax on Jan. 29.

Kristina Belousova, an official with the Federal Penitentiary Service, has confirmed Savchenko’s transfer.

“Because Nadia Savchenko has refused to eat any food for a long time, the Federal Penitentiary Service has made a decision to send her to a medical unit for an additional evaluation and further observation,” Belousova told Interfax on Thursday.

Belousova said doctors find Savchenko’s condition satisfactory and “she is under constant medical observation and she is receiving treatment.”

At the same time, doctors regularly talk with Savchenko, saying she should stop her hunger strike and explaining the possible implications to her,” Belousova said.

It was reported earlier that Savchenko, a 33-year-old pilot, was fighting with the Aidar volunteer battalion in eastern Ukraine when she was captured by militants in June near the town of Schastia, a suburb of Luhansk. It was stated on July 8 that she was being held at the Voronezh pre-trial detention facility in Russia.

On July 9, Russia indicted her for complicity in murder. Savchenko has rejected all charges. Ukraine is demanding her release.

According to several sources, Savchenko went on a hunger strike on Dec. 13 or 15, in response to the prison’s failure to provide her with medical care. She has lost some hearing since being imprisoned.

Savchenko was elected to the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, as a member of the Batkivschyna party led by Yulia Tymoshenko in the snap parliamentary election on October 26, 2014. On November 19, the Central Election Commission registered her as an MP.