"We do not respect this court"

Lawyer Ilya Novikov - on evidence of innocence of Nadezhda Savchenko

Lawyers of the Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko continue to collect evidence of her innocence. According to one of her defenders Ilya Novikov, experts found violations in video files presented by a witness to the prosecution. Now, according to the lawyer, "Alibi Savchenko is reinforced by video recording, not Ukrainian, but from the separatists." Savchenko is now in the pre -trial detention center of Novocherkassk. The process above it will begin on July 30.

For the last week, Ilya Novikov spent in Kiev, where he talked with representatives of the mobile operators of MTS-Ukraine and Life . Next week, he will have the next evidence that Savchenko could not be at the place of death of journalists from VGTRK, as she was already captured. The process in the Savchenko case will begin on July 30 in the Donetsk City Court of the Rostov Region, and, according to the defender, most likely "will be lightning fast."

The court will be held closed. In Russia, Savchenko is accused of killing two Russian journalists in the Donbass last summer. Earlier, the Ukrainian soldier was accused only of involvement in this case, but in early July, the Investigative Committee retrained the article to a more difficult one. Savchenko rejects the accusations, stating that the separatists were transported to Russia, and at the time of the death of journalists, she was captured.

Her lawyer Ilya Novikov told about the upcoming trial and the next evidence of the innocence of Nadezhda Savchenko Radio Liberty:

Lawyer Ilya Novikov - on evidence of innocence of Nadezhda Savchenko

- It is known that the trial of Nadezhda Savchenko will be held in the Donetsk court of the Rostov region. Why did the authorities decide to hold it here and in closed mode?

- The official reason - since Savchenko is supposedly in Donetsk ( Donetsk, Rostov Region. - RS ) crossed the Russian border. But I believe that this is done in order to make access to the press and foreign diplomats as difficult as possible. It is far from Moscow, this is a border zone, from where the FSB can expel any foreigner. This, among other things, is a zone close to hostilities, near Izvarino is already Ukrainian territory, there are very close shells, there are a lot of people who go to fight in Ukraine and return from the war. This is the most uncomfortable place in all of Russia for such a court. Therefore, they chose him.

- What does a lawyer intuition tell you - will this process be long or, on the contrary, hasty?

This is the most uncomfortable place throughout Russia for such a court, which is why it was chosen

- I think they will try to make it lightning -fast. All our petitions to conduct additional examinations according to the data that we are now taking from Kyiv will be rejected. The court will say that everything is clear to him. Since we are interested in not so much a decision that will voice the court as a desire to show his bias, even this will suit us. We are ready to trial, as if he were honest, we are ready to lead him with full dedication. But we foresee that it will not be like that, and we have spare options for any option of its holding.

- When did you see hope for the last time, what was her mood before the court?

Her mood was fighting, she is glad that at least something begins to happen

- Her mood was quite combat. She is glad that finally something has changed, something began to happen. She was so painful to sit for six months in one place. Not that she expects from this court some miracle-she perfectly understands what she faced. But she pleases the prospect of chatting with people, talking to the situation, seeing relatives who will come to court. The sister will come for sure, I don’t know about the mother - whether she will be able to, taking into account her age, but I think that she will come too.

- It is difficult to understand the logic of the Russian authorities, but why, for example, they, for example, exchange Savchenko for the same Alexandrov and Erofeev that they are now trying to prove this court?

- Only the fact that they were right from the very beginning and that they are never mistaken.

- How do you move with evidence related to telephone billing data , which the UK did not want to take into account before? What is the value of this information in the Savchenko case, how can it be used to protect hope?

Our main thesis that it was not there in principle, since it was already in captivity

- We initially concentrate in our work on the main thing. But there are, which we also pay attention to. For example, the Investigative Committee spent a lot of time and the attention of experts to prove that Savchenko with the qualifications of the Mi-24 helicopter navigator could potentially work as an artillery fire adjustor. We did not even go into this, because our main thesis that it was not there in principle, because at that time it was already captured. And here the question comes to the fore, where her phones were, because if her phone was in Lugansk, then she was already captured at that time. Because in another way he could not be there. Even according to investigators, she was captured a few kilometers north. If the phone at such an hour was already in the central part of Lugansk, then all, this is a victory. Another thing is how the court will appreciate it, but to all impartial people it is clear that if this information is reliable, if it is checked, then the investigation version completely fails.

- The investigation has already become acquainted with the data of billing?

- The data appeared in December, and Russian investigators received them twice - at first from us, we asked them to attach the case to the case file, and then the same data entered the official channels. In response to a request from the Russian side, this information was provided by the Ukrainian General Prosecutor's Office. Billing data is a large table where for each connection of the phone to the cell base - whether it was a call or SMS, its time is indicated, it is indicated which station the connection was the connection, and the direction in which the phone was in relation to this station was indicated. Since the station is a tower, a mast, on which several antennas hanging, which cover a certain sector, in each case it is written which of these relayers worked, and at the time of the call or SMS you can find out with an accuracy of 120 degrees, from which side the subscriber was. And if there were several calls or SMS messages for a short time, and especially if there were connections from different antennas, then the area where the subscriber was located is determined quite accurately.

We have two episodes of critical telephone connections for us

Since Hope had two phones of different operators-MTS-Ukraine and Life-we have two series of telephone connections critical for us. One series was in the region of 10.44–10.46, and it shows that she was taken in the center of Lugansk at that time, that is, she was already captured at that time. Another series of connections is the connection of the Life operator. They can see that at 11 with a minute she was in that part of Lugansk, where the base of the militants of the Zarya battalion, that is, the former regional military registration and enlistment office is located.

- And why did the investigators not accept this information as Alibi Savchenk about then ?

According to investigators, she was on a telephone tower and adjusted the fire of Ukrainian artillery

- From the point of view of the UK, Nadezhda Savchenko at that time in the region of 10-11 hours was near the village of Stukalov Balka - this is about the place where it later was captured. And according to investigators, at the same time she was on another telephone tower and there, from this tower, she adjusted the fire of Ukrainian artillery. They want to imagine it that way. The investigation writes: “Since one of the nearest cellular antennas in the Stukalovaya Balka area did not work at that moment, there is a technical opportunity, especially considering that Savchenko was on top and a signal is better caught there that her phone signal was caught in Lugansk.” Therefore, for them this billing does not prove her alibi. This is the position of the Russian investigation, taking into account the experts that they attracted.

- And how can I change the situation?

The interpretation proposed by Russian experts cannot be true

- For the last week I spent in Kyiv. I spent this time to very carefully chat with Ukrainian communications specialists. Actually, with representatives of campaigns, the phones of which was used by hope. We double -handed all the information. They definitely said that the interpretation of Russian experts proposed cannot be true. Firstly, just by virtue of the direction, because if the phone was north of Lugansk, then in both cases the retransplant, which received the signal of this phone, would be directed to the north. And in our case, this is not so. This is impossible. In addition, the phone is arranged so that it always chooses the nearest antenna signal. And between the Stukalovaya beam and the Lugansk one, one campaign has several, the second has several dozen antennas. The final conclusions of the specialists, which they have so far informed me orally, and next week they will have written in writing for transfer to court - that such an interpretation of the billing that the Russian side gives is simply insolvent from a technical point of view. Despite the fact that the Billing data themselves are not disputed. That is, today we have completely exhaustive and arranging us conclusions of specialists that Alibi Savchenko is confirmed by her phones. We will post all these data on the Internet, and everyone who wants to double -check it: both specialists and amateurs - all will be able to do this before the start of the trial.

- But will the court take into account these evidence, this is the question?

We proceed from the fact that the verdict will be written in advance

- This is absolutely unimportant. In our work, we do not focus on the verdict in principle, because we proceed from the fact that it will be written before the trial. And we can influence it minimal. We do not even consider it interesting how we are offered all sorts of goodness, try to reduce punishment. There are people who think this business is the same as everyone else. And if Savchenko receives 15 years, it will be better than if she receives 20. And if 10, then it is better than 15. We do not agree with this, and this is our joint position with Savchenko. We are not going to seek some kind of reduction in the deadline, we are going to prepare the ground so that after the court appoints any punishment that he considers correct for himself, be it 20 or 25 years, so that after that Savchenko is released under the pressure of the public, or through diplomatic channels. We are now achieving a clear understanding of the situation in this case, including so that this pressure and support that it receives from politicians and from ordinary people, does not weaken. Because the position of the Russian authorities today - do not press on the court, the court will figure it out. And this position causes instinctive acceptance among Western politicians. They believe: yes, indeed, the court is serious, we must wait. But as soon as the court ends, and as soon as everyone sees that the evidence is-here they are, and for some reason the court looked at them through their fingers, here, if we do our work well, the link to the fact that we need to respect the court’s decision will not work. In response to the phrase "Respect the court decision" will follow the answer "We saw this court, and we do not respect it."

- This week you also wrote about the possible falsification of video files that the investigation uses Savchenko’s accusation, which can also become her alibi. What is this video, who edited it, how can this affect the outcome of the case in court?

We saw this court and we do not respect it

- We really do not know who edited these files, and we do not blame the investigators of this. There are falsifications in the case, we will talk about them at one time, but in this case there is no reason to say that this has done the investigation. This could be done by the person who recorded these video files. I can only say one thing - the expert who studied these video files told me the following: in the metadata of video files, that is, in the technical information that the camera records when shooting, when comparing with the data of the file properties (you can see them if you click on the file on the file and see when it is created), and so it is clear that there was an editing. This time was shifted, and it is clear that they did it on purpose, it was not a mistake. On the one hand, this shows that the person who wanted to present these files in this form understood what he was doing. On the other hand, thanks to the content of the files (I will announce this a little later, when I have a detailed technical conclusion in my hands), we can quite accurately set the time when Nadezhda Savchenko appears in the frame. This record was attached to the case, but the investigators said that it also does not refute their versions, since it is impossible to install their versions to be reliable when the files were recorded, due to the fact that time was set incorrectly on the camera. According to the file, we can judge that the time has changed, and by the content, according to what can be seen in the frame, we can quite accurately say when it was all. And this is the second, regardless of billing, reinforcing our position that Hope has Alibi. So, everything else - shooting, journalists - has nothing to do with it.