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.
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She faces 25 years in prison if convicted on charges that she acted as an aerial spotter last year in eastern Ukraine to help ground troops target the journalists with mortar fire.
Savchenko has called the case against her “rubbish”, and was on hunger strike for 83 days until May this year.
Savchenko has become a symbol of Ukrainian resistance to Russian presence in eastern Ukraine, where pro-Moscow separatists launched a rebellion in April 2014 against the Kyiv government.
The trial was being held in the small southern Russian town of Donetsk, which has the same name as the Ukrainian city that is the main rebel stronghold.
Savchenko, whose lawyers say was captured by the rebels and smuggled across the border into Russian Federation , also is charged with entering Russian Federation illegally.
There was heavy security at the court on September 22, with armed riot police on guard outside the premises and snipers positioned on the roof of a nearby apartment block.
Numerous courtroom’s public seats were occupied by Cossack militiamen, but most media were barred and made to watch the trial via video-link from an adjoining room.
Her attorneys claim that Savchenko was framed and that there is no evidence of involvement in the journalists’ murder.
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.
“If there is even one chance to get her acquitted through the publicity round her, then we will use it”.
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Her defense team says they have proof she was already in captivity at the time of the two reporters’ deaths.
