KIEV, April 16 (Xinhua) -- The Ukrainian court has decided that lawmaker Nadiya Savchenko, who is accused of plotting a coup, could be released from custody, local media reported on Tuesday.
In its ruling, the court in the city of Brovary in Kiev region said the decision was taken as Savchenko's pre-trial detention has expired overnight Tuesday, according to Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko wrote on Facebook that the release does not mean the automatic withdrawal of charges against Savchenko.
Savchenko was detained in March 2018 as a pre-trial restriction measure after being accused of planning a large-scale terrorist attack in central Kiev and the seizure of state power in Ukraine.
Earlier, a state prosecutor said that Savchenko may face a jail term of 10 to 15 years or a whole-life sentence if found guilty.
Savchenko, who was held at a temporary detention facility in Kiev by Ukraine's security service, called the accusations against her "politically motivated."
She said on Facebook that she won't flee the country and would prove her innocence in court.
Savchenko, also a military pilot, has 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 the killing of two Russian journalists in June 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 in November 2014 while serving her jail term in Russia. She returned to Ukraine in May 2016 in a prisoner swap.
