MOSCOW, October 21 (RAPSI) – The Donetsk Court of the Rostov Region on Wednesday started questioning of a secret witness in the case of Ukrainian military ex-pilot Nadezhda Savchenko charged with involvement in the killing Russian journalists and civilians in Donbas, RIA Novosti reported.

Earlier several witnesses were questioned by the court while their testimony was banned from being recorded on video.

“We have a secret witness on the line. He may not be observed”, the court’s judge stated. The witness gives testimony under artificial name and with modified voice.

The court dismissed prosecution’s petition to close a trial for public in order to protect the witness.

Nadezhda 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.

TV correspondent Igor Kornelyuk and sound engineer Anton Voloshin were killed on June 17 in a mortar attack.

Savchenko, who denies all the charges, is facing 25 years in prison.

Her attorneys claim that Savchenko was framed and that there is no evidence of involvement in the journalists’ murder. They also claim she did not cross the border voluntarily but was kidnapped.