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Russian Prosecutors Seek 23-Year Sentence for Ukrainian Pilot Savchenko

Ukrainian army pilot Nadezhda Savchenko speaks inside a defendants' cage as she attends a hearing at the Basmanny district court in Moscow.

State prosecutors believe that Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko is guilty of a series of crimes and demand that she is sentenced to 23 years in a prison colony, the Mediazone news website reported Wednesday.

Prosecutors accused Savchenko of committing several crimes, "including particularly serious ones, such as the murder of Russian journalists, who did their duty by speaking the truth," the prosecutor said during a closing session of the trial in the Russian city of Donetsk, the BBC's Russian-language service reported.

"Using her professional skills and equipment, Savchenko reported the location of journalists. At least six shots were fired following information given by Savchenko," the prosecutor added.

During the course of the trial, the pilot's defense team tried to prove that the charges against her were unfounded and politically motivated.

A guilty verdict is inevitable, according to the defense team, and Savchenko's fate will be decided after political negotiations, BBC reported.

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