The defense team of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has said that Judge of Kyiv's Pechersky District Court Rodion Kireyev has grossly violated the law by depriving Tymoshenko of the right to have the last word.
Lawyer Oleksandr Plakhotniuk told reporters in the courtyard after a court session on Friday that preparations for the last word were really required, since new information was obtained at the court hearing on Friday.
"Early on Monday, she would have been prepared for the last word, but the judge stripped her of the right to the last word for unknown reasons," he said.
Plakhotniuk also noted that without allowing Tymoshenko to prepare for the last word within a half-day, "the judge retired to the deliberation room until October 11."
He said he was bewildered that the three hours that his client asked for preparations "did not solve anything."
"Whatever the trial may be, either political or criminal, the court has never deprived anybody of the right to the last word," the lawyer said.
