Kyiv's Pechersky District Court, because of the absence of witnesses, has announced a break until the morning of July 7 in its hearing of the case on charges brought against former Ukrainian Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko regarding the alleged poisoning of third Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko.
The presiding judge, Hanna Medushevska, made such a decision at a court session on Monday.
The judge also ruled to instruct the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office to establish the whereabouts of witnesses Mykhailo Vershniak, Halyna Klymovych, Viacheslav Perch and Oleksiy Shevchuk to ensure their appearance at the next court session.
Earlier on Monday, Medushevska refused to interrogate several employees of the Prosecutor General’s Office.
The court questioned an employee of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), Serhiy Batrakov, who said he had not been questioned during the pre-trial investigation.
On February 27, 2012, Pechersky District Court in Kyiv found Lutsenko guilty of committing official crimes and sentenced him to four years in prison, with confiscation of his property. Kyiv Court of Appeals on May 16 upheld this verdict.
The essence of the charges lies in the fact that Lutsenko, while serving as interior minister, allegedly facilitated the accrual of an illegal pension to his driver, Leonid Prystupliuk, the allocation of housing to him, as well as his inclusion in the operational services department.
Lutsenko is also charged with the extension of an investigative case concerning the driver of former SBU First Deputy Chief Volodymyr Satsiuk, as part of an investigation into the poisoning of then presidential candidate Viktor Yuschenko.
