Former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko on Monday refused to plead or answer any questions in her current trial on the charge of exceeding her powers in negotiating a natural gas deal with Russia in 2009.
"Defendant, do you plead guilty in this matter? Are you prepared to give evidence, are you familiar with the suit?" judge Rodion Kireyev asked Tymoshenko during a session at Kyiv’s Pechersky Court.
On July 15, national oil and gas company Naftogaz Ukrainy filed a suit, demanding that Tymoshenko pay UAH 1.5 billion as compensation for alleged damages inflicted on Ukraine by the deal.
Tymoshenko remained silent after Kireyev’s questions.
"She does not have to refuse out loud," said her lawyer Oleksandr Plakhotniuk. "She has the right not to."
"There is nothing in the code [Code of Criminal Procedure] that can warrant forcing her to answer or even state her refusal to," Plakhotniuk said.
"I refuse," Tymoshenko said then.
The judge repeated his questions, also asking Tymoshenko whether she was prepared to pay the sum Naftogaz was seeking. She remained silent again.
"The defendant has de facto refused to answer questions with her behavior," the judge said.
Tymoshenko, who is leader of the opposition Batkivschyna (Fatherland) party, was handed an amended version of Naftogaz’s suit in court on Monday.
