people (including one citizen of the Russian Federation) in connection with an event at which, along with 50 other people, they were allegedly planning to create an ‘Odesa People’s Republic’. 67. Bomb threats have plagued Odesa since June targeting public buildings and facilities such as train stations and the courts. There were also a number of actual explosions and other incidents. An explosion at a military unit on the night of 3 July was called a ‘terrorist act’ by the Government. Two fires on 6 July at a bank and the office of a political party were considered suspicious. Two branches of the PrivatBank were damaged by powerful explosions on 13 July. No casualties were reported. A spokesperson of the bank said it was another attempt to de-stabilize the city. Nevertheless, a week-long international film festival in Odesa opened as planned on 11 July. 68. On 1 July the SBU blocked several streets in Odesa while arresting three individuals suspected to be “rebel fighters”. In the Kherson region, border guards and the SBU arrested two people trying to escape to Crimea who were wanted for allegedly participating in the storming of a military unit in Mariupol. 69. In Odesa, the city Department of the Ministry of Justice appealed to the Odesa District Administrative Court to ban a “pro-Russian” movement called ‘Molodizhna Ednist’ as being contrary to Ukrainian law on civil organizations. In June, one leader of the organization was arrested in March under Article 110 (Trespass against territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine) of the Criminal Code and is being held in Kyiv; his brother has been in hiding since the 2 May violence and is rumoured to have fled to the eastern region of Ukraine that is under the control of the armed groups. 70. On 8 July, authorities in the Russian Federation announced that the former Ukrainian military pilot, Nadiya Savchenko, who is being held in a pre-trial detention centre in Voronezh in the Russian Federation78, was being charged with complicity in the killing of two Russian TV journalists on 17 June near Luhansk. There has been a great deal of controversy surrounding the circumstances of the capture of Ms. Savchenko, with the Russian authorities insisting she crossed the border freely into its territory and was then arrested for having no documents and pretending to be a refugee. The Ukrainian Government insists she was abducted in Luhansk by the armed groups and was taken to the Russian Federation ‘as a result of an agreement or joint operation between the terrorists and the Russian secret services.’ The Ukrainian Government is appealing to the international community to help free Ms. Savchenko. On 19 June, the office of the Ukrainian Prosecutor General said a criminal investigation was being undertaken into the circumstances leading to the death of 10 persons, including the 2 Russian TV journalists, who were killed in a mortar attack near Luhansk on 17 June. On 10 July, the HRMMU was informed this is now an investigation under Article 258 of the Criminal Code (Terrorism) and the investigation is being handled by the SBU. On 10 July, the Luhansk Ministry of the Interior opened a criminal investigation into the abduction of Ms. Savchenko under Article 146 of the Criminal Code (Illegal confinement or abduction of a person). III. RULE OF LAW A. Impunity in the east 78 The Government of Ukraine states that the Russian Federation did not allow a Ukrainian Consul to visit Ms. Savchenko for several days. Her lawyer said she went on a hunger strike to protest this treatment. Ms. Savchenko was allowed to see the Consul on 16 July. 144 | P a g e