Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's defense lawyer, Serhiy Vlasenko, has said that the ex-premier has agreed to meet with representatives of the U.S. company Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP law firm only in his presence.
“According to a statement by Yulia Volodymyrivna [Tymoshenko], she
agreed to meet with them only in my presence, and if our operator makes a
video recording of the meeting,” Vlasenko told Interfax-Ukraine on June 27 .
He also noted that it was not only the meeting that Tymoshenko’s
defense team had helped organize for the representatives of Skadden,
Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP.
“We have an agreed protocol for the meetings,” Vlasenko said.
At the same time, he declined to say for whom the meetings were
organized, but said that they were held in the presence of Tymoshenko’s
defense lawyer and recorded on video camera.
“In order to avoid speculation, all people to whom we provided a
meeting met in the presence of Yulia Volodymyrivna’s lawyers. In
addition, the meetings were recorded on video camera by our operator,”
Vlasenko said.
As reported, the Ukrainian Justice Ministry has attracted the U.S.
Skadden law firm in investigating the Tymoshenko vs. Ukraine case in the
European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). A contract for the provision of
legal services was signed between the ministry and the firm on May 25,
2012.
On Wednesday, June 27, the press office of the State Penitentiary
Service of Ukraine reported that representatives of the U.S. Skadden,
Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP law firm, which Ukraine invited to
conduct an independent study of the materials of the trial of former
Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, would meet with her on Thursday, June
28.
Four company representatives are to participate in the meeting.
