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Moscow / AFP
Ukrainian military pilot Nadiya Savchenko, convicted over the killing of two Russian journalists, began a hunger strike without water on Wednesday to demand her return to Ukraine, her lawyer said.
Lawyer Mark Feigin wrote on Twitter that Savchenko had started a “dry” hunger strike—refusing both food and water—on Wednesday morning, after posting a letter from her demanding her “immediate return” to her homeland.
“She is not drinking,” Feigin confirmed on Wednesday.
Experts say a human can survive several weeks without food but only a few days without water.
A Russian court last month found the 34-year-old pilot guilty of involvement in the fatal shelling of two Russian state television reporters in east Ukraine and sentenced her to 22 years in prison.
Savchenko has maintained her innocence but refused to appeal the verdict, saying she did not recognise the authority of the Russian legal system.