Prague, March 16 (CTK) – Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka will be pushing for the EU leaders to seek the release of Ukrainian pilot Nadyia Savchenko from the Russian prison at the forthcoming EU summit, he told the Seante members who supported his plan yesterday.
“I would be glad if the European Council’s final conclusions mentioned the need for the release of Ukrainian pilot Nadyia Savchenko in accordance with the Minsk agreements. This is another issue I will propose as part of the European Council’s final resolution on behalf of the Czech Republic,” Sobotka (Social Democrats, CSSD) said.
The Senate, the upper house of parliament, also pointed out in its resolution that the “Russian Federation is obliged to release Nadyia Savchenko, a Ukrainian deputy, based on the package of measures within the implementation of the Minsk agreement, in which it [Moscow] pledged to release all hostages and persons detained in connection with the conflict in eastern Ukraine.”
The resolution was supported by 29 out of 40 senators who took part in the vote.
Only the three present senators for the Communist Party (KSCM) and the Party of Citizens’ Rights (SPO) voted against it.
The Senate passed the resolution one week after the KSCM blocked a discussion on a similar appeal in the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of parliament.
Afterwards, the rightist opposition TOP 09 collected deputies’ signatures under a letter calling for an immediate release of Savchenko. The letter, signed by 91 members of the 200-seat lower house, has been conveyed to the Russian embassy in Prague.
Moscow has charged Savchenko with murder and illegal crossing of the Russian border, for which she may face up to 23 years in prison.
Savchenko pleads not guilty. In early March, she went on hunger strike in protest against her imprisonment.
A Russian court is to rule a verdict in her case next week.
