A Russian judge on Monday said Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko was complicit in the killing of two Russian journalists, an assertion certain to inflame already dire relations between Moscow and Kiev. Savchenko, 34, was captured by pro-Moscow rebels in eastern Ukraine in June 2014 during the separatist conflict there and handed over to Russia where she was charged with directing mortar fire which killed two Russian journalists.
She has denied wrongdoing. Regarded as a national hero by many in her homeland, Savchenko has been depicted by Russian state TV as a dangerous Ukrainian nationalist with the blood of civilians on her hands. The United States and the European Union have called on Russia to free Savchenko, who has undertaken various hunger strikes to try to speed up her trial, on humanitarian grounds.
The judge, Leonid Stepanenko, told a courtroom in southern Russia that Savchenko had "deliberately inflicted death on two persons, acting according to a conspiracy and motivated by hatred and enmity." The judge later adjourned proceedings until Tuesday. Savchenko is not being tried by jury and Russian news agencies said the judge's words amounted to a formal guilty verdict.
Her lawyers, Mark Feygin and Nikolai Polezov, told Reuters this was only part of the summing up however and not yet a formal guilty verdict. They have long asserted that Savchenko is the victim of a politicised show trial and would be found guilty. Prosecutors have asked the court for a 23-year jail sentence. "We hope all this will end tomorrow," Feygin told reporters after the end of Monday's proceedings.
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