You're reading: Lawyers: Use of videoconferencing in Tymoshenko case illegal

Legal experts have stressed the illegality of the use of videoconferencing in the case of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on the activities of the United Energy Systems of Ukraine (UESU) Corporation. 

Lawyer Oleksiy Bahanets said at a press conference in Kyiv on Monday that the videoconferencing procedure could be applied only with respect to certain investigative actions, rather than the process in general.

Lawyer Valentyna Telychenko, in turn, said that an illness by a participant in investigative actions could not serve as grounds for videoconferencing and that Tymoshenko herself was against this.

“In my opinion, there is no opportunity for the use of videoconferencing, despite the fact that equipment has already been installed in a room at hospital [No. 5 in Kharkiv where Tymoshenko is undergoing treatment],” she said.

In her opinion, if the videoconferencing regime is applied in the UESU case, it will be a powerful argument for the European Court of Human Rights to recognize the violation of the right to a fair trial.

“It will be illegal and serve as a basis for recognizing the violation of the right to a fair trial,” Bahanets added.

Under the current Criminal Procedure Code (the change that came into force in June 2011), videoconferencing can be used to carry out certain investigative actions upon the mandatory consent of the defendant. After the entry into force of the new wording of the Criminal Procedure Code on November 16, 2012, the videoconferencing regime could be used at trial.

On October 11, 2011, Pechersky District Court in Kyiv sentenced Tymoshenko to seven years in prison for abuse of office when signing gas contracts with Russia in 2009. She has been serving her prison term in the Kachanivska penal colony in Kharkiv since the end of December 2011.

The defense team has repeatedly stated that Tymoshenko had health problems even during her stay in Kyiv’s pre-trial detention center, and demanded that she be examined by independent doctors, because Tymoshenko does not trust Ukrainian doctors. On May 9, Tymoshenko was moved from the prison to Central Clinical Hospital No. 5 in Kharkiv. The procedures for the ex-premier’s treatment in hospital have been selected by German doctors from the Charite Clinic.