Third Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko (2005-2010) has refused to come to court for questioning as a witness in the Russian gas supply contract case against former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, the Web publication Ukrainska Pravda reported on Monday.
"According to the editorial staff, last Friday Pechersky Court’s office received a letter signed by Yuschenko, in which he, on the one hand, fully confirms his testimony provided during the pretrial investigation, and, on the other hand, he refuses to come to court for questioning," the article’s author, journalist Mustafa Najem, said.
The journalist noted that according to unverified reports, the fax message received by the court’s office contains the stamp of the Our Ukraine Party office, rather than Yuschenko’s signature.
According to the publication, last Monday the presidium of the political council of the Our Ukraine Party decided to appeal to Yuschenko with a request "not to legitimize [Tymoshenko’s] political persecution through his participation." The publication also wrote that the presidium had taken a decision under which no Our Ukraine Party member can testify in the trial of Tymoshenko.
The article also notes that the failure to appear in court and a written message confirming the testimony provided earlier are not envisaged by any article of the Criminal Procedure Code.
"If a witness does not appear in court without any reasonable excuse, the court has the right to bring him to court by force using Interior Ministry bodies," the journalist said.
The author of the article said that the president would arrive in Ukraine on Monday on a New York-Kyiv flight.
Interfax-Ukraine has learned that Yuschenko would return home in the afternoon. In addition, the ex-president’s entourage expressed hope that the summons would come three days before the date of questioning.
On August 4, the Pechersky District Court of Kyiv ordered the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine to establish the whereabouts of witnesses in the gas case opened against former Ukrainian Premier Yulia Tymoshenko: Yuschenko, former Ukrainian presidential envoy for international energy security Bohdan Sokolovsky, former First Deputy Head of the Secretariat of the President of Ukraine Oleksandr Shlapak, and former Finance Minister Viktor Pynzenyk.
Judge Rodion Kireyev said on August 10 that the whereabouts of witness Yuschenko were being established.
Читайте об этом на www.kyivpost.ua
The ex-president’s spokeswoman, Iryna Vannykova, described allegations that Yuschenko was refusing to give evidence as absurd.
"Claims that Ukraine’s third president is dodging testimony in court in the hearings of the case of ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko are absurd," she said.
"Yuschenko crossed the border on July 22 and he will be back on August 15. The relevant letters by the party’s lawyer have been referred to the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Pechersky Court," Vannykova said.
Vannykova did not say whether Yuschenko would return to Ukraine for questioning.
"When he returns, he will make a relevant statement, I think," she said.
