MOSCOW - The defense attorney for Ukrainian pilot Nadia Savchenko, who is being charged in Russia with abetting the killing of Russian journalists, has requested that she be tried in Moscow and, if possible, by a jury.
“Today we signed a protocol on having finished studying the case files, and filed several requests. Firstly, for the case against Nadia Viktorovna to be closed due to the lack of criminal evidence; secondly, for some of the evidence to be removed,” the defense lawyer, Mark Feygin, told Interfax on July 2.
“We have also asked that the case be heard by a jury,” the lawyer said.
He admitted that there are few chances of having the case heard by a jury.
“Although from this year Article 105 [homicide], with regard to women who are not facing the maximum penalty, is no longer under the jurisdiction of the jury trial, we insist on the jury in order to challenge this norm in the Constitutional Court in the future as we consider it discriminatory on the basis of gender,” the lawyer said.
“We demand that the trial take place in Moscow,” Feygin said.
