Yesterday at 23:53
Photo from Ukrinform
Ukrainian Member of Parliament and former captive of Russia, Nadia Savchenko, was detained in Kyiv on March 22, moments after her fellow lawmakers voted to strip her of her parliamentary immunity.
Savchenko has been under investigation for her suspected role in a planned terrorist attack to overthrow the government. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), reportedly caught her on tape candidly discussing her plans with Volodymyr Ruban,the head of the Officer Corps Center for the Release of Prisoners, who was charged with the intention to start a military coup. Savchenko submitted to arrest without a fight. Ruban was arrested earlier in March, when he crossed into government-controlled territory in Eastern Ukraine, allegedly carrying a large number of weapons and ammunition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRlBp1PyhLo&feature=youtu.be
Restraint measures for Savchenko will be chosen by the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv today. The Prosecutor General’s Office has already handed over the motion. The office will ask the court to arrest Savchenko without the right to bail. Savchenko spent last night in SBU’s pre-trial detention center.
The members of the Verkhovna Rada, listened to the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Yuriy Lutsenko, yesterday morning, when he brought the motion for the detention and arrest of Savchenko. Lutsenko alleged that she and Ruban tried to recruit officers of the Armed Forces, who then reported it to the SBU.
“You have sent weapons received from terrorists to Kyiv to shoot civilians with mortars, to destroy the constitutional authorities. This is why Yanukovych is dragging out the hearings against him, since he still considers himself legitimate, and still counts on returning behind the backs of DNR (Donetsk People’s Republic) terrorists after the explosions planned by you in Kyiv,” the prosecutor general said.
Savchenko continues to state that her words about the overthrow of the government are just words. She has also denies the accusations of carrying weapons, but the MP still admits to some of the accusations voiced by Lutsenko. For example, she has repeatedly crossed the line of demarcation and went to occupied parts of Donetsk and Luhansk. She has also taken part in smuggling weapons.
“It was very important to let the government understand that this weapon can fire at them, but knowing that the SBU has been following me for a year, I understood and they understood that all that surrealism you were trying to pass on for the truth would not be realized. I made a political provocation,” Savchenko said.
The Verkhovna Rada was not convinced. The parliament overwhelmingly supported Lutsenko’s motion. Charges against her are severe enough for life imprisonment. The prosecutor general showed some evidence right in in the session hall. The video above depicts two people, who are claimed to be Savchenko and Ruban, speaking to a soldier. The two people in the recording tried to convince the serviceman to participate in a terrorist attack in the parliament hall. The person said to be Savchenko, drew a diagram of the location of government officials during Poroshenko’s speech.
“Here, when the president gives his speech, the diplomats get killed. We need eight grenades each covering 200 meters. The dome above, the chandelier, it just falls, all this collapses on video,” Savchenko said.
Having heard the arguments of the prosecution, lawmakers voted to arrest Savchenko. She surrendered her mandate and left the Rada. From there, surrounded by law enforcement, she was led to SBU’s pre-trial center.
Savchenko, has been one of the most powerful symbols of the war that killed more than 10,300 people in Donbas, after anti-government protestors called for the resignation of the Moscow-friendly President, Viktor Yanukovych. In February 2014, Yanukovych fled the country to Russia.
Savchenko, who was in the army as an aviation pilot, fought on the frontlines after the war started and was abducted by Russia soon after. She spent two years in prison there, defying the Kremlin with a series of hunger strikes, and returned to a hero’s welcome in Kyiv, when she was released as part of a prisoner swap in May 2016.
She was elected to parliament as a part of the opposition, while she was still held in Russia. She soon became a critic of Poroshenko’s government after her return. She was heavily criticized after she held talks with Russia-backed separatists without any government consent.
On March 15, Lutsenko abruptly accused Savchenko of plotting to destroy the Rada’s roof with mortar shells and kill surviving lawmakers with assault rifles.
Savchenko denies the allegations and said that the officers who are now accusing her, were the ones who encouraged her to overthrow the government, and she went along with their suggestions to trick them and expose them. Ruban also maintains that he was framed.
