You're reading: Humanitad collecting information in Kyiv on Tymoshenko’s trial

Representatives of the Humanitad international non-governmental organization will draw their conclusions about whether procedural requirements are being followed in the trial of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

Lawyer and former senior crown prosecutor in the UK Jerry Prus-Butwilowicz and Director of Law & Communications for Humanitad Mike Upstone announced this on Tuesday, according to a statement posted on the Web site of the Batkivschyna Party.

Prus-Butwilowicz said that Humanitad’s delegation had asked for complete transcripts of the proceedings.

"At this stage it would appear that there are major complaints that are related to the ability for the defense to properly prepare the cases. Firstly, insufficient time was granted to study the documents when the trial had to start, and insufficient time is being granted to prepare as the trial continues," he said.

Prus-Butwilowicz said that Tymoshenko’s lawyers complained they had not had enough time to prepare for court sessions.

"There seems to be an unhealthy rush in pushing the evidence forward without adequate time for the defense to be able to respond," he said.

He noted that the delegation would also study the complaint that numerous witnesses that the defense wished to call to rebut the allegation of the prosecution had been disallowed and only two allowed.

"Now, we are waiting for the documentation to examine these witnesses validity and see if their evidence in fact would have made a difference, because if it did, then denial of those witnesses being called effectively destroys any possibility of the defense that would be credible," Prus-Butwilowicz said.

He noted that at some stage, such methods could be considered by the European Court of Human Rights.

He also recalled that lawyers had reported that over 200 pages of the gas supply case were missing.

Prus-Butwilowicz said that he had talked to the defense team and intended to talk to the prosecution team to get a fair view of what in fact is happening.

Upstone, in turn, said that "we have grave reservations based on the reports that we’ve been hearing about the appointment of the judge, the conduct of the trial, the repression of witnesses and other evidence, the loss of papers, and also remarks connected to the indictment itself."

He also said that Humanitad representatives would be fully investigating these facts with a view to producing a complete report which we will publish in due course."

The Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office opened a criminal case against Tymoshenko on charges of abuse of office in concluding the gas contracts with Russia in 2009, which, according to the investigation, caused damages amounting to UAH 1.5 billion to the state.

The court started hearing the gas case on June 24. Tymoshenko was arrested at a court session on August 5.