Russia's War Against Ukraine
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Halya Coynash: Luhansk militants hold journalist hostage, threaten 15-year ‘sentence’
A pro-Russian rebel helps a couple climb on a damaged bridge across the Siversky Donets river near the village of Stanytsia Luhanska on March 23, 2015.
There are echoes of the lawlessness demonstrated with respect to Nadiya Savchenko in the plight of Maria Varfolomeyeva, a young Luhansk journalist and civic activist who was taken hostage by Kremlin-backed militants of the so-called 'Luhansk people's republic' ['LNR'] at the beginning of the year. The militants are now claiming that she was helping the Ukrainian armed forces as a spotter and 'spy', and are threatening a 'court trial' and 15-year sentence.
