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Ukraine's jailed ex-military Savchenko wishes no amnesty — human rights official

Savchenko wishes to be put on trial as soon as possible because she is certain the court will find her not guilty

Nadezhda Savchenko EPA/YURI KOCHETKOV

Nadezhda Savchenko

© EPA/YURI KOCHETKOV

MOSCOW, February 13. /TASS/. Nadezhda Savchenko, a former Ukrainian helicopter crew member, currently in Russian custody facing grave criminal charges, does not wish to be pardoned or amnestied, the chief of the Russian presidential human rights council, Mikhail Fedotov, said after visiting Savchenko at a detention centre on Friday.

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He said Savchenko wishes to be put on trial as soon as possible because she is certain the court will find her not guilty, Fedotov said.

She does not want to be pardoned or amnestied because, "she does not want to find herself in a situation where while visiting Russia some day as a politician she might hear charges she killed Russian journalists," Fedotov explained.

HRC members will visit Savchenko again next week.

Savchenko is accused of complicity in the killing of two Russian journalists near Lugansk and also of illegal border crossing. At the moment she is kept at a detention centre in Russia. The investigation has been prolonged till May 13. In protest Savchenko has been refusing to take food to press for release from prison.

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