Russian court sentenced Savchenko to 22 years in prison

Photo: Facebook Nadiya Savchenko

The Russian court found Nadezhda Savchenko guilty and sentenced him to 22 years in prison in a general regime colony and to a fine of 30 thousand rubles (445 dollars). This decision was taken by a trio of judges of the Donetsk City Court, headed by the presiding Leonid Stepanenko. However, the judge didn’t manage to name the term of punishment initially, as Savchenko began to sing, drowning out his voice.

Savchenko improvised on the tune of the song “Oh my braids.” “Oh my judges, judges, you have judged me for a long time, you have judged me for a long time, you will not judge me anymore!” she sang in Ukrainian.

Applause and shouts of “Bravo!” rang out in the hall. The judge announced a five-minute break.

The court decided that Savchenko’s guilt was confirmed by numerous testimonies and the results of expert examinations. The court disagreed with the arguments of the defense of innocence of Savchenko. Her alibi was declared untenable. In addition, the court called contradictory testimony of witnesses and experts who spoke in favor of the Ukrainian officer, as well as physical evidence presented by the defense.

The court of the Rostov region withdrew from the Ukrainian pilots Nadezhda Savchenko accusation of shelling civilians in the Luhansk region.

“The court decided to discontinue the criminal case against Savchenko on charges of attempted murder of six civilians in the Luhansk region, since this case is not within the jurisdiction of the Russian court,” said presiding judge Leonid Stepanenko, reading out Savchenko’s sentence.

The pronouncement of the sentence took two days. On Tuesday, Savchenko, as on Monday, continued to argue with the police officers and laugh at some of the wording of the read sentence. Only once, when the judge declared the inconsistency of her testimony, the defendant began to resent seriously. Lawyers occasionally discussed the words of the judge with their client, but most of the time the advocates spent studying their mobile phones.

Journalists had problems with court coverage. Some members of the press complained that they could not get into the hall, as the police and bailiffs arrange excessive checks and at the entrance to the building they let in, first of all, opponents of Savchenko.

The prosecution asked for a colony of general regime and 23 thousand rubles (100 1 dollar) for the Ukrainian soldier 483 of the year fine.

According to investigators, Savchenko was involved in the death of two Russian journalists in the Lugansk region of Ukraine in 2014. Investigators claim that she corrected the direction of the shelling, the victims of which were the Russians. In addition, she was accused of illegally crossing the Russian border.

Savchenko does not admit his guilt. Her defense claimed in court that the defendant was captured before the Russians were killed. Lawyers for the defendant said Monday that she would not appeal the verdict. At the same time, they expressed confidence that the court’s decision would be accusatory.

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