Prosecutors accuse Nadiya Savchenko of involvement in the deaths of two journalists from public broadcaster VGTRK, but Ukraine says she has been kidnapped by Russia

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

A preliminary hearing in the trial of a Ukrainian pilot charged in connection with the deaths of two Russian journalists has started in Russia’s south.

Helicopter navigator Nadiya Savchenko, 34, faces up to 25 years in prison for her alleged involvement in the killing of two Russian journalists in eastern Ukraine last year.

Savchenko, who has been in pre-trial jail for more than a year, was put in the dock in the small southern town of Donetsk on the border with war-torn eastern Ukraine, in a move her defence says aimed at shielding the proceedings from the public eye.

The hearing is expected to set the trial date and consider a request of Savchenko’s lawyers to hold the trial in Moscow, where the case would receive more publicity.

“Nadezhda Viktorovna Savchenko has been brought to the Donetsk city court,” a court spokeswoman told reporters, referring to the Ukrainian woman by her Russian name.



Embassy staff from the UK, US, Canada, Norway, Austria and the EU arrived in Donetsk but were not allowed to attend the opening of the trial.

“Going to Donetsk. Taking a flak jacket with me,” one of Savchenko’s lawyers, Mark Feigin, said on Twitter.



On top of that, Donetsk has no jail and Savchenko will be transported to hearings from Novocherkassk, a city about two hours away by car.

Two journalists from Russian public broadcaster VGTRK, Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin, died from shelling on 17 June 2014 in Ukraine’s Lugansk region.

Russian prosecutors accuse Savchenko of involvement in the killing in her capacity as a volunteer in a Ukrainian battalion.

The prosecution also accuses her of illegally crossing the border into Russia on 23 June 2014, where she was detained.

Savchenko has denied the claims and refused food for more than 80 days in protest over her detention. She broke off her hunger strike in March because of severe health problems.

Her defence argues that data from phone bills confirmed that Savchenko had already been taken prisoner by separatists when the Russian journalists died, insisting she was taken to Russia against her will.

Moscow is prosecuting Savchenko despite diplomatic immunity she supposedly enjoys as a lawmaker and member of the Ukrainian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

Kiev accuses Russia of effectively kidnapping and smuggling her across the border, and Ukraine’s general prosecutor’s office on Wednesday announced that it suspected six Russian officials of taking part in her detention and prosecution.

Ilya Novikov, another of Savchenko’s lawyers, said Russia’s first deputy foreign minister was among them.