A group of Russian human rights activists plans to protest against the trial of Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko, who was captured in eastern Ukraine and was brought to Russia to face charges of participating in the killing of two Russian journalists.
The protest on October 20, which will take the form of a series of one-person pickets to avoid violating Russia's strict laws on public gatherings, is being organized through social networks.
Savchenko is being held in Moscow's Serbsky psychiatric hospital where she is undergoing psychiatric examinations.
On October 18, one of Savchenko's lawyers, Nikolai Polozov, wrote on Twitter that the pilot is being subjected to sleep deprivation at the hospital.
"All night long, a prison official sits in her doorway and watches her. We regard this as torture," Polozov wrote.
On October 13, Moscow's Basmanny District Court postponed the next hearing in the case, which will focus on defense objections, until November 11.