MOSCOW, July 13 (RAPSI) – Former Ukrainian military pilot Nadezhda Savchenko, who stands charged with complicity in the murder of Russian journalists in southeast Ukraine, could be sentenced to 25 years in prison, Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin told journalists on Monday.

He said they have irrefutable evidence of Savchenko’s guilt.

“In view of the collected evidence, investigators have reworded the charges from being an accessory to being an accomplice in the premeditated murder of two or more persons committed in a socially dangerous manner. Savchenko also stands charged with the attempted murder of civilians who could be injured by artillery fire, which she called in via radio. These charges could send Savchenko to prison for life, but women are not given life sentences in Russia and so the longest term she could receive is 25 years,” Markin said.

As per instructions from the Prosecutor General’s Office, Savchenko’s case will be heard at the Donetsk City Court in the Rostov Region in south Russia.

Savchenko was arrested in Russia last summer on charges of complicity 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.

Earlier, the Russian Investigative Committee singled out Savchenko’s case from a larger case of war crimes in Donbas and finished its investigation.

Savchenko denies the charges and claims that her detention was illegal.

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