The Pechersky District Court of Kyiv will continue hearing a criminal case against former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko on Aug. 29, 2011.
Oleksiy Bahanets, Lutsenko’s lawyer, said that the hearing is to start at 09.15.
He said that the court had decided to adjourn the meeting under a petition lodged by Lutsenko regarding the need to give him time to prepare for questioning witnesses.
"The court intended to proceed to the questioning of witnesses, but Yuriy Vitaliyovych [Lutsenko] submitted a motion, and we supported the need for him to prepare for the questioning of witnesses. We don’t know the order under which witnesses will be questioned, and therefore, he filed a motion so that he and his lawyers, under proper conditions, are given time to prepare for the interrogation of witnesses by August 29," Bahanets said.
He said that after the court session resumed on Monday, two individuals, Yuriy Narizhny and Viktor Kostenko, who submitted statements to the prosecutor’s office declaring themselves as victims, had read out their evidence in court. Olha Hrabarchuk wrote the statement on behalf of her husband, Kostenko.
In addition, Lutsenko’s wife, Iryna, said that another statement by Kostenko, also written by his wife, had also been read out at the session, in which he asked the court to withdraw his statement to recognize him as a victim.
The two victims were not able to appear in court for health reasons.
In addition, Bahanets said that according to the presiding judge, all those present in the courtroom, except for the participants in the judicial process, including media representatives, had been removed from the courtroom for only one day.
