Moscow – A petition in support of Svetlana Davydova, a mother of seven accused of treason for calling the Ukrainian embassy about Russian troop movements, will be received by the Russian presidential administration on Feb. 3, the Kommersant newspaper reported on Feb. 3.
Up to 40,000 people signed the petition.
“When the petition arrives, we will consider it,” the president’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov told Kommersant.
The Kremlin is aware of the situation, which “has certainly caused a public outcry,” he said.
It took the campaign organizers, among them lawyers, action group members, human rights activists and parliamentarians, just two days to collect these signatures in Davydova’s support, the newspaper said.
State Duma member Dmitry Gudkov told Kommersant he had pledged to guarantee that Davydova would not violate the terms of a travel ban or house arrest if the woman’s restraining measures were eased.
Davydova’s case is also in the spotlight of Russian human rights commissioner Ella Pamfilova.
Investigators have now turned their attention to the woman’s relatives, the newspaper said.
Davydova’s husband, Anatoly Gorlov, and her sister were summoned to the Smolensk branch of the Federal Security Service on Feb. 3, according to Kommersant.
Davydova, a mother of seven from the town of Vyazma, was detained on suspicion of high treason on January 21 after calling the Ukrainian embassy about Russian troop movements in the spring of 2014.
On Jan. 29, Moscow’s Lefortovsky Court ordered that Davydova be remanded into custody until March 19, 2015. She faces up to 20 years in prison if found guilty.
Davydova has four children with Gorlov and they are also raising three children from a previous marriage.
Russian children’s rights commissioner Pavel Astakhov said he could vouch for Davydova in court in order to allow her to be reunited with her family.
