Trial of Ukrainian Pilot Nadia Savchenko Begins

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

Savchenko was arrested in Russia last summer on charges of involvement in the murder of two Russian TV journalists during hostilities in Donbas and on illegally crossing the border into Russia.

The court held the pre-trial hearings on September 15.

Savchenko has called the case against her “rubbish”, and was on hunger strike for 83 days until May this year.

The 34-year-old’s plight and defiant stance in captivity have made her a national hero in Ukraine.

“I never in my life shot at unarmed people, I’m a soldier not a murderer”, she said, demanding to be cross-examined using a lie detector.

Although the court was open, journalists were not allowed to enter the courtroom and instead had to watch proceedings from a room with a television screen nearby.

Her detention by Moscow has become a cause celebre in her crisis-wracked homeland after she said she was kidnapped by Russian special forces and smuggled across the border.

The trial began Tuesday in the small southern Russian town of Donetsk. Standing outside the court, a policeman said the town is so close to the region of Lugansk in eastern Ukraine, now under pro-Russian separatist control, that, during the fighting, some of the buildings vibrate. They also claim she did not cross the border voluntarily but was kidnapped.

The pilot is the best known Ukrainian prisoner in Russian Federation but there are many more. The verdict was condemned in the West as being politically motivated.

Savchenko pleaded not guilty when asked by the judge about her position regarding the case, an Interfax correspondent reports.