Hearing underway for Ukrainian pilot in Russia
A preliminary hearing in the trial of a Ukrainian officer
charged in the deaths of two Russian journalists started in Russia's south on
Thursday but was adjourned shortly afterward to consider an appeal of the
defense.
Russian investigators allege that military pilot Nadezhda
Savchenko was working as a spotter in eastern Ukraine and provided the
coordinates for a mortar attack that killed the two Russian journalists in 2014,
reports AP.
The deaths took place in eastern Ukraine, where
Russia-backed separatists are fighting Ukrainian forces.
Savchenko was captured by rebels and brought to Russia under
murky circumstances, though Russian authorities say the Ukrainian crossed the
border on her own and was lawfully detained on Russian soil.
Thursday's preliminary hearing, which was held behind the
closed doors, was 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.
Court representative Tatyana Diyeva told reporters that the
court has adjourned the hearings and sent the appeal to the regional court to
decide where the case should be heard.
Nikolai Polozov, one of Savchenko's lawyers, told reporters
outside the court that he has not had any contact with his client since she was
taken from a pre-detention center in Moscow two weeks ago.
Savchenko, an officer who went to serve in the volunteer
Aidar battalion when the war broke out in the east, became a poster child for
Ukrainians fighting separatists. Top Ukrainian officials have been campaigning
for her release.
Earlier this year, Savchenko spent 83 days on a hunger
strike to protest her detention, but under pressure from her family and
supporters she started drinking milk and eating cheese in March. Since her
arrest, Savchenko has been elected as a deputy in Ukraine's Parliament and is a
delegate to the Council of Europe, giving her diplomatic immunity. Russia,
however, has rejected calls to release her.
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