Russian judge says evidence supports guilty verdict in trial of Ukrainian pilot

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Russian judge says evidence supports guilty verdict in trial of Ukrainian pilot

Nadiya Savchenko, accused of directing artillery fire that killed
two journalists, motivated by hatred of Russians, says judge

Shaun Walker in Moscow
Monday 21 March 2016 10.54 GMT

A Russian court has found Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko guilty of murder, according to Russian news agencies, as a controversial trial in the south of the country drew to a close.

One of the panel of three judges began reading the verdict in the case, which has caused an international outcry, on Monday morning. The full reading was expected to take two days, with sentencing likely on Tuesday.

Despite Russian agencies widely reporting that the court had found Savchenko guilty, her lawyers said that during the first part of the verdict the judge was merely summarising the prosecution arguments. Few have any doubt that the actual verdict, when it comes, will be a guilty one, however.

Summing up the prosecution arguments, the judge said Savchenko “committed the premeditated murder as part of a group of people from the motives of hatred and enmity”. She was motivated by hatred of “Russian-speaking people in general”, he added, though it was not immediately clear if this was merely a summing up of the prosecution case or the judge’s own conclusions. However, the judge said the witnesses and evidence in the case supported a guilty verdict, RIA Novosti reported.

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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/21/ukrainian-pilot-nadezhda-savchenko-guilty-russian-court-journalists

[sharp_stick]

1. Now there's a surprise

Vlad and his reincarnation of the Soviet show trials.