MOSCOW. Dec 22 (Interfax) - The Moscow City Court has upheld the decision to extend the arrest of Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko, who is charged with abetting the killing of Russian journalists in Russia, until mid-February, an Interfax correspondent has reported, citing a court ruling issued on Monday.
The Moscow City Court has upheld a lower court's decision and rejected the appeal filed by defense lawyers for Savchenko.
The Moscow Basmanny Court on October 27 extended Savchenko's arrest until the end of the investigation period (February 13, 2015).
The court also declined to release Savchenko on 1 million rubles' bail.
Mark Feygin, a lawyer for Savchenko, said Savchenko's health had declined considerably in the six months of her stay in a detention facility.
Alexander Drymanov, acting head of the Investigative Committee's department for the investigation into crimes associated with the use of prohibited methods of war, requested that the defense lawyers' requests be declined, saying the circumstances which caused Savchenko to be taken into custody have not changed.
According to information possessed by Russian investigators, Savchenko, a 33-year-old pilot, was fighting with the Aidar volunteer battalion in eastern Ukraine when she was captured by militias in June near the town of Shchastya, a suburb of Luhansk. It was said that on July 8 she was being held at the Voronezh pre-trial detention facility in Russia.
The Russian Investigative Committee claimed earlier that Savchenko had crossed the border without documents in the guise of a refugee and was detained later for identification, after which it turned out that she was suspected of playing some role in the killing of Russian TV journalists Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin near Luhansk.
On July 9, she was charged with complicity in murder.
Savchenko denies the charges.
Savchenko is now in a detention facility on hunger strike. On December 12, her lawyer Mark Feygin told Interfax Savchenko had asked to see an ear, nose and throat doctor, saying she was afraid that she could go deaf. She went on hunger strike to protest the denial of such a visit on Monday and continued the hunger strike after the visit was organized.
On Wednesday, Savchenko's lawyers said they intend to provide the Investigations Committee with materials obtained by Savchenko from Ukrainian investigators and provided to their Russian colleagues, which they say prove that she was not involved in the death of the VGTRK journalists.