By Nadiya Savchenko, posted by Vira Savchenko several days after visiting her sister at SIZO-3 prison in Novocherkassk
Posted on 05.03.2016, handwritten on 04.28.2016. This was written the day before she actually did fill out and sign the extradition documents with her lawyer Nikolai Polozov who came to visit her on April 29th, 2016.
Translated and edited by Voices of Ukraine

Photo: PAP/EPA/MAXIM ROMANOV

“To the people:

Today I am outraged like never before!

They bring a packet of documents for me to fill out, for [my] extradition to Ukraine.

One of the questions in it makes me laugh like crazy. :))))

Question: What was your purpose in crossing the border into Russia?
(Get a load of that question!)

My answer: “I was kidnapped by the Russian Secret Services!”
They immediately write down a rather loose interpretation of my answer: ‘Crossed the border illegally.’
“Oh, no!” I tell them. “It’s not going to go down this way!”

Question: Did you ever request asylum or citizenship in Russia?
My answer: “Well, why the hell would I need that?”
And they continued in this vein, so on and so forth…

In the end, I refused to fill out those documents!

Because it’s starting to look like that one joke:

“The court is reviewing a gang rape case in which the woman became pregnant after the rape. The court’s verdict? Make the woman pay a fine for the rapists’ donor sperm! How could this happen? Simple – because the rapists themselves were the judges!”

I have found myself in a similarly surreal fable! After being kidnapped, I should also pay the kidnappers 30,000 rubles! What’s that for – gas money? Or is it my ransom, so they can finally return me to Ukraine?! Well, they can have my money!

They kidnapped me, they also robbed me (stole everything I had on me: my vest, fatigues, my boots), and now they also want my money! They can have it, and choke on it! I will give them the 30,000 rubles – they can use the money to buy some pills to fix their half-witted brains! But as for everything else – no way, no how! To that I can’t agree!

The first time they tried me, they found themselves ears-deep in shit! Now, to cover up their crimes in my abduction, they want to try me again, supposedly for extradition – but they want to do it sneakily, to make me admit to all the things I did not do! They want to return me to Ukraine not as a hero, but as some kind of criminal! Even though they’re the real criminals here!

So why should I tell lies about myself for Russia’s sake?! Just because they’re threatening to kill me? Then let them kill me! Then they will show the entire world that Russians are not only kidnappers but also murderers! Even though this is no news to anyone!

Therefore, I will not sign any documents with such wording! It’s not enough that they want to exchange two guilty [men] for one innocent [woman], but they still want to slander me as much as they can! “My soul ate no garlic, and will not stink!” [Ukrainian proverb]

I am not guilty of anything! Protecting one’s own land from the enemy is not a crime – but one’s honor and duty!!!

Does the international community, seeing all of this, not understand the full absurdity of the situation with Russian “justice”?

04.28.2016, jail, Russia.
Nadiya Savchenko”

Source: Nadia Savchenko FB page

This translation work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.