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Prosecution argues Savchenko’s guilt of Russian TV journalists murder proven

According to the prosecutor, the coordinates received from former Ukrainian pilot were used to fire no less than six shells
Nadezhda Savchenko  Valery Matytsin/TASS
Nadezhda Savchenko
© Valery Matytsin/TASS

DONETSK, March 2. /TASS/. The state prosecution believes that the guilt of former Ukrainian military servicewoman Nadezhda Savchenko of complicity in the murder of Russian journalists is proven.

"Using her skills and equipment Savchenko transmitted the whereabouts of the persons in question. The coordinates received from Savchenko were used to fire no less than six shells," the prosecutor said at a meeting of the Donetsk city court.

The prosecutor also believes there is sufficient evidence Savchenko had crossed the Russian border illegally.

"Acting willfully and stealthily Savchenko crossed the border of Russia. The exact location is undetermined. After that she was detained by police in the village of Kantemirovka, the Voronezh Region," the prosecutor said.

"The court has established authentically that Nadezhda Savchenko had arrived at the site of the Aidar battalion of her own accord. The Aidar battalion’s commander organized the crime and appointed the accomplices. Savchenko conducted reconnaissance of the terrain. She carried a binocular, a map, a radio transmitter and mobile telephones. Savchenko on June 17, 2014 moved to the area of Stukalova Balka and climbed a radio relay pylon, from where she could most effectively conduct observation and identify from a distance of no less than 2.5 kilometers a group of six civilians and also three civilians - citizens of Russia," the prosecutor said.

The prosecution argues that Savchenko, an officer of the Ukrainian armed forces, on June 17, 2014 was within an area controlled by the paramilitary battalion Aidar, stationed in the area of Metallist village, the Slavyanoserbsk district of the Lugansk region. Savchenko was monitoring and adjusting artillery fire against a roadblock of militias of the self-proclaimed Lugansk republic and a group of civilians present there, including three Russian TV correspondents of the VGTRK television channel. Two Russian journalists, Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin, were killed.