MOSCOW, March 21 (RAPSI) - The Donetsk City Court in the Rostov Region on Monday found Ukrainian military ex-pilot Nadezhda Savchenko guilty of involvement in the murder of Russian journalists in Donbas and illegal border crossing, RAPSI reported from the courtroom.

Judge held that Savchenko conspired to commit the murder on grounds of hatred and animosity. She also illegally crossed the border into Russia before the date of June 23, 2014, according to the judgment.

The court found out that Savchenko committed crimes out of hatred for the Russian-speaking people with her guilt confirmed during the trial by the testimony of several witnesses.

“A motive for the crimes committed by the accused was hatred for animosity against the social group of Lugansk region citizens and Russian-speaking people in general,” the court judgment reads.

Savchenko claims she is innocent and refuses to acknowledge the court as proper authority. Her attorney Nikolay Polozov said that she is not going to appeal the sentence, no matter what it would be. Currently Savchenko is on a hunger strike.

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

Savchenko was arrested in Russia in early July 2014.

A prosecutor has asked the court to sentence Savchenko to 23 years in prison while maximum prison time for women in Russia is 25 years.

Savchenko and her defense insist on her innocence claiming that Savchenko was framed and that there is no evidence of involvement in the journalists’ murder. They also claim she did not cross the border voluntarily but was kidnapped.