Ukrainian Pilot Savchenko to Receive Sentence Within 2 Days

By The Moscow Times

March 21, 2016

Former Ukrainian army pilot Nadezhda Savchenko listens to her lawyer Nikolai Polozov from a glass-walled cage during a verdict hearing at a court in the southern border town of Donetsk in Rostov region, Russia, March 21, 2016. Reuters TV / Reuters

The Donetsk municipal court in southern Russia has begun to sentence Ukrainian military pilot Nadezhda Savchenko, who has been on trial on charges of abetting the killing of two Russian journalists, the MediaZone news agency reported Monday.

The indictment reads that Savchenko's alleged crimes were "based on hatred and enmity against … the civilian population of Luhansk region [Ukraine], related to their refusal to recognize the legitimacy of the current government in Ukraine and the desire to create a separate territorial entity — the Luhansk People's Republic."

Prosecution demands that Savchenko be sentenced to 23 years in prison for murder, attempted murder and the illegal crossing of the state border.

According to the judges, the sentencing that began at 11 a.m. on Monday will take two days, MediaZone reported.

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