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Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko given 22-year sentence

22 March 2016 15:16 (UTC +04:00)

Baku - APA. Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko has been sentenced to 22 years in jail after being convicted of charges relating to the deaths of two Russian journalists, the BBC reported.

She was accused of directing the artillery fire in eastern Ukraine in which the two journalists died in June 2014.

Prosecutors said she was driven by "political hatred".

She denied all the charges and her case has become internationally notorious.

Western politicians have been among those calling for her release, echoing her lawyers' descriptions of the process as a show trial and a farce.

As Savchenko was finally pronounced guilty, following the judge's two-day reading of the verdict, she disrupted proceedings by singing a Ukrainian national song.