Former Sloviansk Mayor Nelia Shtepa has been arrested for two months with no right to post bail for 60 days, a press service of prosecutor's office of Kharkiv region reported.

"The pretrial inquiry is been carried by the prosecutor's agencies, since Shtepa is a local government official of the third category," the regional prosecutor's office told Interfax-Ukraine.

Shtepa has been informed of being suspected of activities constituting a threat to Ukraine's territorial integrity and inviolability, where such actions caused people's deaths or other grave consequences, a crime covered by Ukrainian Criminal Code Article 110, Part 3.

It was reported earlier that, immediately after the Sloviansk city council building was seized, Shtepa said at a rally that she supported the occupiers' demands but declared later that she did this to preserve peace, as "armed men were standing on roofs."

The Donetsk regional Security Service department opened a criminal case against Shtepa based on Criminal Code's Article 110. Shtepa said later that she was puzzled by her prosecution, accused the Security Service of causing the current crisis in Ukraine, and warned that she would go to court to sue the Security Service.

The Sloviansk city council members ruled on April 28 to leave Shtepa as city mayor, but all mayoral functions were in fact performed by 'people's mayor' Viacheslav Ponomariov. The city lawmakers gathered once again for an extraordinary session on April 30 to consider Shtepa's voluntary resignation, and her duties were officially terminated.

In May, it was reported that Shtepa had been taken hostage by militants.

The temporary Web site of Donetsk Regional State Administration reported on July 7 that Shtepa was among those released during the anti-terrorist operation in Sloviansk.

On July 11, Ukrainian Interior Ministry detained Shtepa and escorted her to the Security Service department in Kharkiv region to conduct the necessary procedures.