High-profile trial of Ukrainian officer begins in Russian Federation

The trial of Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko has begun in the Russian town of Donetsk, amid worldwide fears that the charges have been fabricated for political reasons.

She stands accused of directing artillery to kill Russian journalists operating in eastern Ukraine.

Savchenko has insisted she is not guilty and was kidnapped and smuggled illegally across the border into Russian Federation .

Journalists take pictures from the screen of the TV set with live…

The trial is being held in the Russian town of Donetsk which shares its name with the war-torn city across the border in eastern Ukraine. “I have never in my life shot at unarmed people”.

There was heavy security at the court, with armed riot police on guard outside the premises and snipers positioned on the roof of a nearby apartment block.

Nadiya Savchenko served in Iraq and in Ukraine as a helicopter pilot and she is regarded as a hero.

She is also denying an unlawful crossing of the Russian border.

Numerous courtroom’s public seats were occupied by Cossack militiamen, but the press were barred from the room and made to watch the trial via video-link from an adjoining room.

Three representatives from the European Union, a Ukrainian consul based in Rostov-on-the-Don, and Savchenko’s sister Vera, who has actively campaigned for her release, were among those who attended the hearing.

Speaking to Deutsche Welle before the trial, her lawyer Mark Feygin said, “we don’t have much chance [of justice] because in Russian Federation there is no justice”. Ms. Savchenko described the case as a “piece of rubbish” from inside her courtroom cage and denounced Russia’s involvement in the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Outside the court house a handful of Kremlin supporters demonstrated against Savchenko.