You're reading: Tymoshenko calls on Judge Kireyev ‘not to torture Criminal Procedure Code’ and pass a sentence

Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has proposed that Judge Rodion Kireyev "not torture the Criminal Procedure Code, and the people" and give a verdict on the Russian gas supply contract case against her.

"Mr. Judge, perhaps everybody’s had enough of this torture. … Pass a sentence. Announce the sentence that has been written for you in the Presidential Administration, and do not torture the Criminal Procedure Code," she said at a session of Kyiv’s Pechersky District Court on Thursday.

Tymoshenko reacted in such a way to the court’s decision to reject a petition submitted by her lawyer to bring in an acquittal.

She also added: "Why are you torturing the Criminal Procedure Code, the people, and the media?"

The judge said that he tried to be quiet and not to comment emotionally on statements made by the defendant, stressing only that he regards such statements as an attempt to disrupt the court session.