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Ukraine pilot Savchenko files resignation from Ukraine army as elected deputy — lawyer

Nadezhda Savchenko is held responsible in Russia for complicity in the death of Russian journalists near Luhansk

Nadezhda Savchenko Sergei Fadeichev/TASS

Nadezhda Savchenko

© Sergei Fadeichev/TASS

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Russia’s investigators say no grounds for Ukrainian woman pilot’s release from custody

MOSCOW, November 7. /TASS/. Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko filed resignation from Ukrainian armed forces, as she became a lawmaker, her lawyer Mark Feigin told reporters at Basmanny district court of Moscow on Friday, as Savchenko was held responsible in Russia for complicity in the death of Russian journalists near troubled eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk last summer.

“I would like to say that Nadezhda Savchenko filed resignation from Ukrainian armed forces, because she became a deputy of Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada,” the lawyer said, adding that the defence planned to turn in international legal instances “to find Savchenko as a prisoner of war.” In this case, the lawyer said that she could be swapped as a Ukrainian prisoner of war.

Savchenko was brought to Basmanny district court to participate in court proceedings over her petition against the detective’s action on Friday, a source in the court told TASS. The defendant has earlier asked for personal participation in the court session. The lawyer asked the court to find action taken by the detective illegal, as the latter denied adding testimony of witnesses to Savchenko’s detention to the criminal case against her.

Savchenko refused services of interpreters at the court session, saying that she understands Russian, but spoke only Ukrainian.

Politicians find Savchenko as “a hero of war” in Ukraine. In early October a representative of the Ukrainian delegation at the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe OSCE Parliamentary Assembly named her as prisoner of conscience.

Nadezhda Savchenko is a professional serviceman. She participated in a mission in Iraq as a member of Ukrainian peacekeeping contingent in 2004-2005, served as a shooter in the mechanized battalion and as an air navigator of the helicopter gunship. During the conflict in southeast Ukraine she joined nationalist battalion Aidar.

Nadezhda Savchenko case

Ukrainian citizen Savchenko is accused of complicity in the murder of two Russian journalists near war-torn eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk in July. She was detained in Russia and placed in custody in Voronezh, then Savchenko was convoyed to Moscow for a psychological and psychiatric expertise.

Detectives found that during hostilities near the city of Luhansk in June being the navigator-operator of a helicopter gunship Mil Mi-24 Savchenko joined battalion Aidar. Finding the coordinates of a group of Russian journalists from the VGTRK central television company and other civilians near Luhansk she transmitted it to a mortar battery. Then the mortar battery fired at the spot according to these coordinates, killing VGTRK journalists Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin.

The court ruled to place Savchenko under arrest. In late October Basmanny district court extended a term in custody for her until February 13. The investigation of the criminal case was also extended until this date.

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