Savchenko sworn in as Ukrainian lawmaker

Savchenko was elected in absentia in 2014 while she was in custody. She told parliament in Kyiv on May 31 that she would make it her priority to fight for the release of other Ukrainian political prisoners held in Russia. Savchenko returned to Ukraine last week to a hero's welcome after she was convicted and pardoned by Russian President Vladimir Putin as part of a prisoner swap. Savchenko was captured in eastern Ukraine by Russia-backed separatists in June 2014 when she was serving in a volunteer Ukrainian battalion. Her trial was widely regarded as tramped up and politically motivated, and she denied all charges of involvement in deaths of two Russian reporters and illegal crossing of the border into Russia.