Former Ukrainian Prime Minister and Batkivschyna Party leader Yulia Tymoshenko has demanded the withdrawal of a judge of the Pechersky District Court of Kyiv, who started a preliminary hearing of a criminal case against Tymoshenko on charges of abuse of power during the signing of gas contracts with Russia in 2009.
"I am demanding the withdrawal of the judge," she said at a court meeting on Friday.
While calling grounds for the disqualification of the judge, Tymoshenko’s lawyer Serhiy Vlasenko said that the case had been submitted to the court in direct violation of the law, in particular, invitations to the court meeting had been sent on the weekend.
In addition, he noted the dependence of the presiding judge, Rodion Kireyev, on First Deputy Prosecutor General and member of the Higher Council of Justice (HCJ) Renat Kuzmin in terms of dismissal and disciplinary action, as Kireyev was appointed as a judge not for life and can be dismissed under a motion from HCJ members.
Vlasenko said that it was Kuzmin who had signed the indictment against Tymoshenko.
Tymoshenko, in turn, supported the petition to withdraw the judge.
"You have no right to hear the case," Tymoshenko said, while addressing the presiding judge.
"First of all, you have worked as a judge for about two years, and you have no experience. You were transferred to this court a month ago under a decree signed by [President Viktor] Yanukovych. A judge, who has no experience and who was transferred to the Pechersky District Court a month before political cases, cannot consider this case," Tymoshenko said.
Tymoshenko described the judge as "a figurehead of the Yanukovych administration" and said that he had been appointed to this post to falsify the trial.
Earlier, while entering the courthouse, Vlasenko said: "I have never said such words, but I cannot describe these people as my colleagues. This is really a gang of criminals.
Some of them are wearing prosecutor uniforms, while the others are sitting in black robes. I’m addressing you, slaves in robes, remember that you are judges," he told reporters.
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