You're reading: Yushchenko to be summoned to court for Tymoshenko’s trial again

Rodion Kireyev, the judge of Kyiv's Pechersky District Court who is presiding in the Russian gas supply contract case against former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, has changed the procedure for examining evidence and announced the testimony given at the pretrial investigation of witnesses who cannot come to court for good reasons.

An Interfax-Ukraine reporter said that after a break in a court session on Tuesday, the court announced statements that had been sent to the court’s office by witnesses. In particular, one witness, former Finance Minister Viktor Pynzenyk, said in his statement that he was undergoing medical treatment at the cardiology department of the Feofaniya Clinical Hospital and that his condition was assessed as serious.

Another statement came from Iryna Mykhalska, who said she could not attend a court session to provide evidence for health reasons.

The court also read out a statement by a representative of Ukraine’s third president (2005-2010), Viktor Yushchenko, in which Yushchenko asks the court to announce his testimony given at the pretrial investigation, as he is on vacation outside of Ukraine.

Due to the absence of witnesses, the court changed the procedure for examining the evidence and decided to read out the testimony of Mykhalska and Pynzenyk given at the pretrial investigation, whereas witness Yushchenko has been summoned to court again.

Tymoshenko’s lawyer Yuriy Sukhov, in turn, said that it was necessary to question all witnesses.

Thus, the witnesses will be questioned in the order of their appearance in court. Then, the defendant will be interrogated, and after that, if necessary, examinations will be assigned, and the court will proceed to the stage of examining the evidence.