Savchenko to suspend hunger strike for 3 days to take lie detector test
The arrested MP, Nadiia Savchenko, has decided to interrupt her hunger strike for three days to undergo forensic psychological examination with the use of a lie detector, the Internet publication Ukrayinska Pravda has reported with reference to Savchenko's lawyer Oleh Soloviy.
"Because of the lack of physiological reactions due to exhaustion of my body, which makes it impossible for a forensic psychological examination using a computer lie detector to be carried out, I agree to eat for three days on April 13, 14, and 15, 2018," Savchenko said in a statement handed to Ukrayinska Pravda by her lawyer.
In her statement, Savchenko stressed that she made this decision voluntarily, without "physical and psychological pressure," and the statement was written in the presence of her lawyers.
On April 13, Nadiia Savchenko's sister Vera Savchenko said the arrested lawmaker's lie-detector test was cancelled because of her ill health.
On March 22, the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada granted the prosecutor general's recommendation and gave its consent to prosecute, detain, and arrest Savchenko. The same day, law enforcement officials notified Savchenko that she was being treated as a suspect at parliament, after which they escorted her to the offices of the SBU branch for Kyiv and Kyiv region.
The recommendation that Savchenko be deprived of immunity from prosecution was made as part of criminal proceedings opened on counts of preparations to violently change or dismantle the constitutional system or for the seizure of power by a group of individuals acting in concert, preparations for assassinating a statesperson or a public figure by a group of individuals acting in concert, preparations for a terrorist attack by a group of people acting in concert, the establishment of a terrorist group, and the illegal handling of weapons, ammunition, or explosives by a group of people acting in concert.
Kyiv's Shevchenkivsky District Court ruled on March 23 to place Savchenko under arrest pending trial for 59 days, until May 20. Kyiv's Appeals Court upheld the ruling.
Savchenko went on a hunger strike on the same day.
On April 12, the MP's sister, Vira Savchenko, said that Nadiia Savchenko had been been transferred to the detention center's hospital for a medical checkup. "She has been moved to the detention facility's clinic for a checkup," Vira said, adding that Nadiia has agreed to a medical examination.