The staff of the secretariat of the Verkhovna Rada commissioner for human rights has checked the observance of the constitutional rights and freedoms of Ukrainian MP Nadiya Savchenko in a pretrial detention center, the ombudsperson’s press service reported on March 24.
“The staff of the secretariat has examined the materials from the personal case of the people’s deputy and met with her. Nadiya Savchenko announced that she went on a hunger strike and that she last ate on the evening of March 23. At the moment, she has no complaints about her condition. Her request for hot water and a shower has been satisfied, and her right to freely choose a doctor if needed has been explained,” reads the report.
The ombudsperson’s press service also noted that “Nadiya Savchenko voiced her remarks to the staff of the ombudsperson’s secretariat about video surveillance and tinted windows in the prison cell, her observations were checked, there were no gross violations of her rights and freedoms.”
Earlier, Human Rights Commissioner Liudmyla Denisova announced her intention to personally monitor the observance of Savchenko’s constitutional rights.
On March 23, the Shevchenkivsky District Court of Kyiv ruled to select a preventive measure for Ukrainian MP Nadiya Savchenko in the form of detention for 59 days, until May 20.
Though Judge Yevhen Sydorov found Savchenko’s detention on March 22, 2018 to be groundless, he chose to put her in custody without a bail option as a preventive measure.
The MP’s defense lawyer told journalists the defense intends to appeal the chosen measure of restraint on March 26.
On March 15, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko submitted motions to the Verkhovna Rada on granting consent to the prosecution, detention and arrest of Ukrainian MP Nadiia Savchenko.
On March 22, the Verkhovna Rada supported the motions and greenlighted Savchenko’s prosecution, detention and arrest. Then representatives of law enforcement bodies in the building of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine informed Savchenko about suspicion, after which the MP, accompanied by law enforcers, went to the Office of the Security Service of Ukraine in Kyiv and Kyiv region.
The motions were filed in the framework of criminal proceedings under Part 1 of Article 109 (actions aimed at the forcible change or overthrow of the constitutional order or the seizure of state power); Part 1 of Article 14 (preparation for crime), Part 2 of Article 28 (commission of a crime by a group of persons, a group of persons by prior agreement, an organized group or a criminal organization), Part 1 of Article 109; Part 1 of Article 14, Part 2 of Article 28, Article 112 (encroachment on the life of a state or public figure), Part 1 of Article 14, Part 3 of Article 258 (terrorist act); Part 1 of Article 258-3 (creation of a terrorist group or terrorist organization); Part 2 of Article 28 and Part 1 of Article 263 (illegal handling of weapons, ammunition or explosives) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
