Russia jails Ukrainian female pilot 22 years

Nadiya Savchenko

Ukrainian Pilot, Nadiya Savchenko, was sentenced on Tuesday to 22 years in Russian prison for murder.

Savchenko, 34, the most famous prisoner of the Ukraine conflict,was accused of giving Ukrainian national forces the coordinates for an attack in which two Russian journalists were killed.

The prosecutor said that she was found guilty of murder, attempted murder and illegally crossing the Russian border during the conflict over Ukraine’s two eastern-most regions.

He said that the court in the southern Russian town of Donetsk near the Ukrainian border, said Savchenko’s prison term included the nearly two years she had been in Russian custody.

The prosecutor said that after Savchenko was taken into Russian custody in mid-2014, Ukraine appointed her as a member of its delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, giving her diplomatic immunity.

He, however, said the immunity was not applicable to the case because the appointment was made after the alleged crime.

(dpa/NAN)