MOSCOW, August 21 (RAPSI) – The Donetsk City Court in the Rostov Region will consider a case against ex-Ukrainian military pilot Nadezhda Savchenko who stands charged with complicity in the murder of two Russian journalists, RIA Novosti reported on Friday.

The Rostov Regional Court on Friday maintained territorial jurisdiction over the case.

The judge ruled that the case be heard at the location of the crime scene. The fact that various witnesses reside in Moscow and Voronezh cannot be considered a circumstance for transferring the case to Moscow. The judge also ruled that there are no grounds for preferring one specific area over another.

The ruling can be appealed within ten days.

On Friday, the public prosecutor objected to a defense petition on transferring the trial from Donetsk (Rostov Region) to Moscow. At Friday’s hearing, Savchenko’s attorney, Ilya Novikov, quoted the high legal costs, travel costs and compensation for those based in Voronezh and Moscow as a reason for the transfer, saying that if found guilty, Savchenko will have to cover the expenses. He added that there were security issues involved.

Savchenko was arrested in Russia last summer on charges of involvement in the murder of two Russian TV journalists during hostilities in Donbas and on illegally crossing the border into Russia.

TV correspondent Igor Kornelyuk and sound engineer Anton Voloshin were killed on June 17 in a mortar attack.

The Russian Investigative Committee singled out Savchenko’s case from a larger case of war crimes in Donbas and finished its investigation.

Savchenko who denies all the allegations is facing 25 years in prison.

Her attorneys also believe that Savchenko was framed and that there is no evidence that she was involved in the murder of the journalists. They also claim she did not cross the border voluntarily but was kidnapped.