Ukraine's lawmaker Savchenko detained over alleged coup plot

KIEV, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Ukrainian lawmaker Nadiya Savchenko has been detained over the charges of plotting a coup, Andriy Lysenko, spokesman for Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office, said on Thursday.

In a Facebook statement, Lysenko said that Savchenko is being questioned in the investigation department of the Security Service of Ukraine.

The court in Kiev is set to choose the pre-trial restriction measure for the detained lawmaker on Friday, Lysenko added.

Earlier in the day, Ukrainian parliament has deprived Savchenko of her legal immunity and allowed her arrest at the request of Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko.

While speaking in the parliament, Lutsenko said the preliminary investigation found that Savchenko together with her supporters have "planned a large-scale terrorist attack" in central Kiev aimed at a "forcible overthrow of the constitutional system and the seizure of state power in Ukraine."

Savchenko has denied the charges, saying the accusations against her were fabricated.

Savchenko, also a military pilot, had formerly participated in the conflict in eastern Ukraine along with government forces.

She spent almost two years in prison in Russia after a court there found her guilty of complicity in killing two Russian journalists in 2014 during the conflict.

The pilot has denied her role in the murder and said she had been kidnapped in Ukraine and then handed over to Russian authorities.

Savchenko was elected as a member of the Ukrainian parliament while serving her jail term in Russia.

She returned to Ukraine in May 2016 after Russian President Vladimir Putin pardoned her. Enditem