Verdict due in Savchenko trial in Moscow



MOSCOW: -- Nadia Savchenko, the Ukrainian pilot on trial in Moscow charged with complicity in the deaths of two Russian journalists will hear her fate today.

Savchenko faces up to 25 years in jail if found guilty .

The 34 year-old is viewed as a national hero by many Ukrainians resentful of what they see as Kremlin backing for pro-Russian insurgents trying to break Kiev’s control over eastern territories.

At the beginning of March Savchenko went on hunger strike to protest against the length of what she said was unjust legal process after the judge in her trial adjourned proceedings just as she was about to deliver her final speech. Savchenko stopped hunger strike soon after she gave the final statement in court on March 9.She has denied any involvement in the deaths.


-- (c) Copyright Euronews 2016-03-21

Court finds Ukrainian pilot guilty of complicity to murder

DONETSK, Russia (AP) — A Russian court has found Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko guilty of complicity to murder two Russian journalists in war-torn eastern Ukraine.

The judge who began reading the verdict on Monday said in his opening that Savchenko, who served in a volunteer Ukrainian battalion at the time, called in the coordinates for shelling that killed the two journalists and several civilians in July 2014, and that she was driven by "political hatred."

Prosecutors had asked for a 23-year prison sentence for Savchenko. The sentencing in the case is expected later.

The Savchenko case has attracted strong criticism from the West and is an open wound for Ukraine, which says she was captured by Russia-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine and turned over to Russia, and therefore should be treated as a prisoner of war.


-- (c) Associated Press 2016-03-21