Kiev Appeals Court Rules to Remand Rada Lawmaker Savchenko in Custody

The former Ukrainian pilot turned lawmaker is facing up to five years in jail following accusations by authorities that she had been plotting a coup and terrorist acts in the country.

KIEV (Sputnik) — The Kiev Appeals Court decided on Thursday to remand Verkhovna Rada lawmaker Nadezhda Savchenko in custody, a Sputnik correspondent reported from the courtroom.

"Leave appeals of defenders in the interest of Savchenko without satisfaction," the presiding judge announced.

According to the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine, Savchenko was planning terrorist attacks in the parliament building and the government quarter. She faces from five years to life imprisonment. The court in Kiev on March 23 arrested the deputy, who had been serving for two months. At the same time, Savchenko went on hunger strike. Savchenko's lawyers later filed an appeal against her arrest.

Ukraine's parliament stripped Savchenko, who is accused of planning, recruiting, and giving instructions on how to conduct a terrorist attack on the parliament, of parliamentary immunity at the request of the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office. She was later detained inside the parliament’s building and is facing from five years to life in jail.

READ MORE: Savchenko Announces Meeting With 6 Ukrainian Prisoners of War in Donbass

A Russian court sentenced Savchenko to 22 years in jail in 2016 for being an accomplice to the murder of two Russian journalists in Donbas. During her arrest, Savchenko also held a hunger strike. Later that year, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree to pardon her. Savchenko's imprisonment in Russia was widely criticized by the European Union and the United States, with the West calling her release a "milestone" in resolving the Ukrainian conflict.