KYIV. March 18 (Interfax) - Ukrainian citizen Ankhar Kochneva intends to file a lawsuit with an international court against the rebels who kept her prisoner.
"I want to file a lawsuit with an international court. Let them present their evidence of why they wanted to kill me. I think there will be international trials. Any person can be abducted, made to say anything, and then they can say he admitted it and we killed him for that," she said in an interview with Interfax on Monday.
Kochneva did not specify with what international court she will file her lawsuit, adding she will consult with lawyers on the issue. "I think it's a promising case because they have no evidence of my guilt," she said.
Kochneva also said she knows the names of those who kept her prisoner and knows against whom she will file her lawsuit.
As to her further plans, Kochneva said she intends to spent two days in Kyiv before leaving for Moscow. "I will spend two days in Kyiv because I need to get my passport. My old passport is being held by the gangsters and I currently have no documents. Secondly, a press conference is likely to be held tomorrow, and we will now resolve this issue with the Syrian ambassador," Kochneva said.
Kochneva said she plans to return to Syria after visiting her daughter and friends in Moscow.
Kochneva was abducted in Syria by members of the so-called Free Syrian Army in October 2012. The abductors demanded a ransom in an amount of $50 million, threatening to kill the journalist. In early 2013, the rebels told the journalist's relatives they were ready to reduce the amount of the ransom to $300,000.
On March 11, Kochneva's relative said she had escaped and was in Damascus. She arrived in Kyiv with assistance from Ukrainian diplomats on March 17.