MOSCOW, April 24 (RAPSI) – Ex-Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko detained in Russia has been officially charged with complicity in the murder of two Russian journalists, Investigative Committee spokesperson Vladimir Markin said on Friday.
Moreover, the final indictment now includes unlawful crossing of the border with Russia, Markin added.
“Investigators claim that during the military operation near Lugansk last June, Savchenko obtained the position data of a group of Russian journalists who worked for the Russian National Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (VGTRK) and other civilians near Lugansk, and provided the data to Ukrainian troops. As a result, an artillery attack on the coordinates killed journalists Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin,” he said.
The spokesman added that the attack could have injured other civilians in the area.
“After the incident, Savchenko used refugee papers to cross the Russian border. Upon ID check, she was detained for identification,” Markin said.
The allegations against Savchenko could be confirmed by her handwritten notes, ballistic test data and examination of debris recovered from the bodies as well as by photos and footage from the murder site and satellite data. The evidence was provided for forensic examination.
Savchenko’s case will soon be separated from the general criminal case regarding war crimes in Donbass for trial.
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.
Her detention was extended until May 13.
TV correspondent Igor Kornelyuk and sound engineer Anton Voloshin were killed on June 17 in a mortar attack.
Savchenko denies the allegations and claims that she was kidnapped in Ukraine and forcibly transported to Russia.
She was elected a member of Ukraine’s parliament from the Batkivshchyna Party in October 2014 and approved as a member of the Ukraine mission to PACE in late January 2015.