Nobel laureates sign petition to free female Ukrainian pilot stuck in Russia

Three Nobel Prize laureates were among thousands of people who signed a petition urging European leaders to secure the release of a hunger-striking Ukrainian pilot from a Russian jail.

The 34-year-old Nadiya Savchenko is standing trial for alleged involvement in the death of two Russian journalists in war-torn Ukraine. She faces up to 23 years in prison if convicted.

Savchenko has denied all charges and has not been eating or drinking since her hearing was adjourned Thursday before she was given a chance to make her final statement. Her case is seen by many Ukrainians as a symbol of resistance against what Kiev's pro-Western leaders view as Russia's aggression in the eastern industrial heartland of the former Soviet state.

Hundreds of demonstrators rallied on Sunday outside Moscow's diplomatic mission in Kiev to demand her repatriation to Ukraine. The protests saw the Russian embassy pelted with eggs and the windows of at least one diplomatic car smashed.

Savchenko's fate has also sparked concern among Western governments and leading human rights figures.

The Belarussian writer Svetlana Alexievich and two other Nobel Prize winners in literature - Austria's Elfriede Jelinek and the Lithuanian-American Tomas Venclova - told European leaders that Savchenko's life and the bloc's credibility were at stake.