You're reading: Vlasenko removed from courtroom until end of Tymoshenko trial (updated)

TBYT-Batkivschyna faction deputy Serhiy Vlasenko has said that he is planning to lodge appeals against a judge of the Pechersky District Court of Kyiv, Rodion Kireyev, at all institutions, including international ones, in connection with his dismissal from the trial of former Prime Minister former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and removal from the courtroom.

The court decided to remove Vlasenko from the courtroom until the end of the judicial process on the gas supply case opened against Tymoshenko.

According to earlier reports from Tymoshenko’s official website and news agencies police have blocked Tymoshenko’s lawyers inside the courtroom after the judge announced a break.

"It’s not clear what Gryphon officers are doing, they’re not saying why they’re here, they’re not allowing the defense lawyers to move around the courtroom, they’re not letting them leave or enter, referencing some mythical order unclear from whom. We tried to find out whose orders, but they’re not responding and are totally blocking the defense," said Serhiy Vlasenko.

There are currently eight Gryphon officers in the courtroom, who have lined up between the spectators in the courtroom and the area for the defense and prosecution.

"Right now Gryphon is forcibly removing my new lawyer Oleksandr Plakhotnyuk from the courtroom. The number of Berkut officers around the court has doubled. There are officers in vehicles along Khmelnytsky St. and by the Golden Gates. What are they preparing for?" Tymoshenko wrote on Twitter.

Earlier Vlasenko has filed a complaint with the court over the actions of Judge Kireyev who refuses to consider the issue of admitting new lawyers – Mykola Siyi and Oleksandr Plakhotnyuk – to the case.

"The judge began the hearing by essentially removing defenders from the courtroom. I made a statement regarding the judge’s actions, which he ignored, I made a second statement after which Judge Kireyev said that I am abusing my rights and raised the issue of removing me from the courtroom," Vlasenko said during the break in today’s hearing.

He believes the judge is deliberately denying Yulia Tymoshenko defense.

"He doesn’t need lawyers or Tymoshenko, he needs one prosecutor and to read a verdict that has already been written. This isn’t a trial or even a farce. This is the funeral of justice in Ukraine. If this is how a judge behaves in a case against a former prime minister, what does this say about cases involving ordinary people?" he said.

Vlasenko did not rule out that after the break the judge will have him removed from the courtroom and after a while remove Tymoshenko.

"It’s the same mode as on July 15 – most likely he will not admit the lawyers, even thought I said three times that this request has been made and it must be considered. And immediately after this they will question witnesses, who I have already seen in the corridors of the Pechersk District Court," he added.

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