The courts have every right to consider a motion by former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko to close the criminal case on financial abuses within the United Energy Systems of Ukraine (UESU) corporation in her absence, the ex-premier's defense lawyer Serhiy Vlasenko has said.
“It [the court’s intention to consider the motion in the presence of the ex-premier] does not meet the requirements of the current criminal procedural law. The court could have done this during the preparatory stage of the proceedings in the absence of Tymoshenko,” Vlasenko said at a briefing on Tuesday.
He noted that the defense team had demanded Tymoshenko’s motion to close the case be considered at the court meeting on Tuesday.
According to him, the defense team demanded that Tymoshenko’s motion should be considered, as the Prosecutor General’s Office had already dropped this case on November 11, 2005, and the Supreme Court of Ukraine confirmed the lawfulness of closing these criminal proceedings.
“According to the Supreme Court’s ruling, the criminal case was closed due to the absence of evidence of a crime in Tymoshenko’s actions, in line with paragraph 2 of Article 6 of the Criminal Procedural Code. Therefore, we do not understand what the court is currently considering. The court is holding proceedings in violation of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to a fair trial), paragraph 4 of protocol 7 to the European Convention on Human Rights (that a person cannot be tried twice for the same alleged crime). This is a flagrant violation of the Ukrainian and international laws. And I would like to note that the court is considering this case in violation of jurisdiction rules,” Vlasenko said.
He also expressed surprise at the choice of the date and time for the next court session.
“… The judge scheduled the hearing for January 18, at four in the evening. I want to remind you that this will be a Friday, and the working day ends on Friday at 1645. What Judge [Kostiantyn] Sadovsky hopes to consider within 45 minutes, I do not know,” Vlasenko said.
