Russian Court Finds Pilot Savchenko Guilty for the murder of two journalist
Savchenko, who had denied the offences,
responded to the verdict by interrupting judge Leonid Stepanenko, shouting that
he should have made it 23 years, as prosecutors had requested.
Then she sang a Ukrainian song and chanted
"Glory to Ukraine!".
The chant was echoed by Ukrainian spectators in
the court room, forcing the judge to call for a break.
Savchenko, 34, has been imprisoned in Russia
since June 2014 when she was captured by pro-Moscow rebels in eastern Ukraine
while fighting as a volunteer against them.
She accused the rebels of kidnapping her and
taking her across the border to Russia where she was jailed and charged as an
accessory to murder.
Russian authorities said that she gave the
Ukrainian army the co-ordinates for the attack that killed the Russian
journalists and several civilians.
They also said she escaped from the
separatists and crossed into Russia of her own accord.
During two days of court proceedings, the judge
had gone over the case in a monotonous voice and in minute detail, even sending
a few of those in the public
gallery to sleep.
Lawyers gazed at
their phones or spoke with Savchenko during the trial and one of them was even
spotted reading a magazine on the American Civil War.
Savchenko, confined to a cage, smiled at her
sister, who was watching from the public gallery.
The trial has been condemned by the West and
Ukraine as being politically-motivated, with the Ukrainian government saying
the charges are made-up and Savchenko should be treated as a prisoner of war.
It wants her to be returned in exchange for
Russians being held captive in Ukraine.
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