Russia sentences Ukraine’s ‘Joan of Arc’ airwoman to 22 years in prison for murder

A Russian court has sentenced a Ukrainian helicopter navigator to 22 years in prison in a contentious murder trial that has drawn sharp condemnation from the West.

A judge convicted Lieutenant Nadiya Savchenko, 34, of directing mortar fire that killed two Russian journalists during pitched fighting in eastern Ukraine in 2014. Savchenko claimed that she was innocent and that pro-Russian separatists abducted her in Ukraine before crossing the border and delivering her to Russian police.

Shortly after the verdict was delivered, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said in a statement that he would not recognise the court’s decision, which he called a “shameful show trial.”

He also said that he would continue to demand Savchenko’s return to Ukraine, offering a trade in exchange for her freedom.

“I am ready to hand over two Russian servicemen detained in our territory for their participation in the armed aggression against Ukraine,” Poroshenko said in a statement, referring to two alleged Russian servicemen arrested for fighting alongside pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine last May. They are being tried on terrorism charges.

Savchenko’s trial became a cause celebre in Ukraine, where she was elected a member of parliament while in Russian custody and awarded the title Hero of Ukraine. She was equally demonised in the Russian news media as a member of a far-right paramilitary battalion who was driven by ethnic hatred for Russian speakers.