Nadya Savchenko's lawyer Novikov says she's facing up to 16 years' imprisonment / Photo from facebook.com/Batkivshchyna
Ilya Novikov, a lawyer of captive Ukrainian pilot, Member of the Ukrainian Parliament Nadya Savchenko, said that the investigation had dramatically accelerated even before two Russian special forces officers were detained by the Ukrainian military in the east of Ukraine, according to Russia's Novaya Gazeta.
"It must be noted that investigators have recently started to whip themselves up. For example, when we told an investigator that we couldn't come, we were busy and had other things to do, the investigator could come to us on his own to bring papers for signing because he had to report on this on the same day," Novikov told Novaya Gazeta.
According to him, the investigation had accelerated dramatically even before two Russian special forces officers – Sergeant Alexander Alexandrov and Captain Yevgeny Yerofeyev – were detained by the Ukrainian military in Luhansk region.
The lawyer explains this by "the command." "Apparently, the decision has already been made to hold a court as soon as possible and then conduct negotiations at the level of diplomacy after the court," Novikov said.
He also said he believed that everything was proceeding the way that Russia might "give Savchenko back."
"My current assessment is that it is most likely going to happen, as there are no advantages for the Kremlin that she is being kept. They will achieve their targets in terms of public opinion by conducting the trial. And when the trial is over, she'll be of no use while becoming inconvenient, as the Europeans will continue to press even more to release her," Novikov said.
When asked what term Savchenko could be sentenced to, Novikov answered: "It can easily be 13-16 years."