A court in southern Russia has begun pre-trial hearings in the case of a Ukrainian former military pilot charged over the deaths of two Russian journalists in eastern Ukraine.<br /><br /> Nadiya Savchenko is accused of providing the coordinates for a mortar attack that killed the pair last year.<br /><br /> She was brought to the courthouse in Donetsk, Russia in a police truck but journalists were prevented from seeing her enter the building and the proceedings were closed to the press.<br /><br /> Savchenko’s lawyers claim she was already captive when the reporters died in shelling near Luhansk.<br /><br /> Since her arrest Savchenko has been elected to Ukraine’s parliament and is a delegate to the Council of Europe, giving her diplomatic immunity. <br /><br /> But Moscow has refused to free her. In March a court rejected an appeal for her temporary release.
