Ukrainian hero MP Savchenko detained over alleged coup

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Ukrainian MP Nadiya Savchenko, a former combat pilot hailed as a national hero after she was captured by pro-Russian forces in eastern Ukraine in 2014, was detained on Thursday, accused of planning a coup in Kiev.

Savchenko, 36, was detained after lawmakers voted to remove her parliamentary immunity from prosecution and granted General Prosecutor Yuriy Lutsenko's request to allow her to be taken into custody.

"(Savchenko's) plan was to overthrow the constitutional system by carrying out terrorist attacks on Kiev's central government quarter,” Lutsenko told deputies ahead of the vote.

He said she had made a deal with pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine to acquire mortars, small arms, sniper rifles and combat grenades for the attack.

Ukrainian parliamentary deputy Nadiya Savchenko listens to General Prosecutor Yuriy Lutsenko during a parliament session in Kyiv, Ukraine March 22, 2018. /VCG Photo

Lutsenko also showed MPs a video that appeared to show the former pilot trying to persuade members of the Ukrainian military to join a plot.

"I propose a coup d'etat, they should be eliminated physically, all of them in one moment," a woman resembling Savchenko said in the recording.

The woman also drew a plan of parliament to explain where to throw grenades inside the building to create an explosion.

Savchenko, a frequent and outspoken critic of the current authorities, has not denied the allegations outright.

But in a speech to lawmakers on Thursday, she accused the authorities of betraying the ideals of the 2013-2014 pro-European uprising.

"To accuse me of treason against Ukraine... and to make anti-heroes out of yesterday's heroes simply because they do not agree with the policies and positions of the current government, that's all the authorities can do," she said.

Savchenko was captured by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine in 2014 and held for two years in a Russian jail on murder charges that she said were fabricated.

She quickly became a symbol of Ukrainian resistance, showing steely defiance while on trial in Russia and launching several hunger strikes.

After returning to a hero's welcome in Kiev in May 2016 as part of a prisoner swap with Russia, she became a deputy for former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko's political party.

But her political star has faded since then and she has become a fiery and unpredictable opposition figure in parliament, regularly stirring controversy and holding talks with pro-Kremlin separatists without the government's consent.

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Source(s): AFP ,Reuters