You're reading: Court fines Vlasenko for contempt of court

Judge Oksana Tsarevych has drawn fined Serhiy Vlasenko, the defense lawyer of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, 1,000 nontaxable minimum incomes for contempt of court. 

According to an Interfax-Ukraine reporter, the judge announced this ruling after leaving the consultation room.

The judge said Vlasenko has been warned twice about violating order in the courtroom, but that the lawyer ignored the warnings.

As reported, Kyiv’s Pechersky District Court started to hold investigatory proceedings on the criminal case on the murder of Ukrainian parliamentarian Yevhen Scherban in the absence of Tymoshenko, who is a suspect in the case. Judge Tsarevych found the ex-premier guilty of contempt of court, which is an administrative offence, and obliged her to pay a penalty of 1,000 nontaxable minimum incomes, which is Hr 17,000 ($2,000).

The official exchange rate of the hryvnia to the U.S. dollar on February 13 is Hr 7.9930 per $1.