Court finds Ukrainian pilot guilty of complicity to murder
DONETSK, Russia (AP) - A Russian court on Monday 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 Monday morning 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" toward residents of Ukraine's Luhansk region.
The judge in the trial recounted the circumstances of the case, saying that Savchenko was part of a "criminal group" and aimed to kill an "unlimited number of people."
Neither Savchenko, nor her lawyers react in any way to the judge's monotonous reading of the verdict.
Prosecutors had asked for a 23-year prison sentence for Savchenko. Sentencing is expected on Tuesday.
Speculation persists that Moscow could agree to exchange her for two Russians captured in eastern Ukraine and alleged to be active-duty soldiers despite Russia's persistent denial that it has sent troops or equipment to bolster the rebels.
Fighting between Russia-backed separatists and government troops in eastern Ukraine has killed more than 9,100 people and left the rebel-held areas isolated from the rest of Ukraine.
Midway into the trial the judge turned down her lawyers' plea to ask the cell-phone company to trace her calls on the day of the mortar attack that should prove that she was a few kilometers (miles) away from there.
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.
Although a military pilot, Savchenko was fighting in the Aydar volunteer battalion against the rebels when was captured by the separatists in July 2014 before she surfaced in Russia. Moscow insists she escaped from the rebels and was captured after crossing the border by herself. The judge on Monday also found Savchenko guilty of "crossing the border illegally."
The Ukrainian government has protested against Savchenko's arrest, saying she should be treated as a prisoner of war and released under the current truce for eastern Ukraine. Prosecutors asked the court to sentence her to 23 years in prison.
A group of Ukrainian officials was traveling to the border town of Donetsk where Savchenko is on trial was stopped by Russian border guards and detained for three hours. One of the officials, presidential envoy for peace settlement in eastern Ukraine Iryna Gerashchenko, was refused entry and barred from visiting Russia for five years, the spokesman said.
The European Union and U.S. President Barack Obama have called for Savchenko's immediate release, but Russian officials had dismissed such calls as attempts to interfere with the country's internal affairs.
Savchenko, who often wears Ukrainian costume in the courtroom, has been openly contemptuous of the judge and prosecutors, denouncing them as "idiots" and raising her middle finger in defiance. She went on an 83-day hunger strike while in detention, then began another this month when the court delayed the reading of the verdict.
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Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow contributed to this report.