“On the basis of the resolution of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine dated March 22, 2018, on the stripping deputy Nadezhda Savchenko of parliamentary immunity, granting permission to launch criminal proceedings against her, her detention and choosing a preventive measure… I detain you on suspicion of committing crimes,” the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) investigator told Savchenko, as aired by the 112 Ukraine broadcaster.
Earlier in the day, the Ukrainian parliament, Verkhovna Rada, stripped Savchenko, who is suspected of plotting a terrorist attack in the parliament, of parliamentary immunity at the request of the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office, giving its consent to launching criminal proceedings against the lawmaker, as well as to her detention and arrest.
READ MORE: Ukrainian Parliament Excludes Savchenko From Country's Delegation to PACE
On March 16, Savchenko, a Ukrainian "war hero" convicted in Russia of aiding the killings of reporters in the east, was listed as a traitor by a controversial Kiev-based website tracking Ukraine’s "enemies."
This came a day after Savchenko, who was lauded in the media as an icon of the Maidan uprising four years ago, was accused by chief prosecutor Yuriy Lutsenko of planning to blow up the parliament.
In 2016, a Russian court sentenced Savchenko to 22 years in jail for acting as a spotter for Ukrainian fire in the breakaway Luhansk region, which killed two Russian journalists. She was pardoned later that year and handed back to Ukraine, becoming a legislator.
