MOSCOW, November 7 (RAPSI) – Investigators have added three witness testimonies to the case of Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko, RAPSI reports on Friday from the Basmanny District Court in Moscow.

This was done in accordance with a petition from Savchenko’s defense team. A representative of the investigative team said at a hearing that these documents had been rejected, but then the decision was reviewed and they were added to the case on November 6. They asked that the court rule against the procedure initiated by the defense team.

The Basmanny District Court in Moscow ruled in favor of the investigators.

Savchenko’s defense team filed an exception over the investigators’ refusal to add the testimony of three witnesses to the case materials, including the testimony of Savchenko’s sister and colleague. They believe that their testimony clearly indicated that Savchenko was not guilty. The investigators initially argued that these documents could not be added to the case because the approved procedure was violated during the witnesses’ questioning.

Savchenko, 33, is a Ukrainian pilot who called in artillery fire via radio. She was seized by anti-Maidan fighters in June but, according to the independence supporters in the Lugansk area, managed to escape. Later she was detained in Russia, which she allegedly entered as a refugee, and was charged with complicity in the murder of Russian journalists during the shelling of the self-defense forces in the contested Ukrainian region of Lugansk.

Vesti correspondent Igor Kornelyuk and sound engineer Anton Voloshin were killed on June 17 in a mortar attack in the vicinity of Metallist and Mirny, small towns near Luhansk in eastern Ukraine. Both journalists were buried in Moscow.

Savchenko denies the allegations and insists she has no relation to the death of the journalists.

The investigation of Savchenko’s case and her arrest have been extended until February 13, 2015. The investigative team plans to find witnesses to the Ukrainian pilot’s other criminal actions and to have expert conclusions and other case materials translated into Ukrainian. 
Savchenko’s mother, Maria, arrived in Russia in mid-October.