Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko did not show up at the Kyiv Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise to be questioned with a lie detector at a time previously set for this procedure.
Poroshenko was to appear at the institute at 10:00 a.m. on October 1 but failed to do so, an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent reported.
The institute’s spokesperson, Yuriy Irkhin, told journalists that Poroshenko was served with an official letter setting a clear time for taking a lie detector test. At the same time, he said that such tests are not obligatory.
“This is an absolutely voluntary thing,” Irkhin said. “Petro Oleksiyovych [Poroshenko] has not yet made any statements [as to whether he agreed or refused to pass a lie detector test], because he didn’t show up,” he said.
The institute is only supposed to organize the questioning with a lie detector, and the questioning itself has been ordered by an investigative authority, in this particular case the State Bureau of Investigations, under a relevant court ruling, Irkhin said.
Asked whether Poroshenko’s questioning could be broadcast live, Irkhin said, “Unfortunately, a forensic-psychological examination procedure does not envision live broadcasts.”
As reported earlier, Kyiv’s Pechersky District Court sanctioned the questioning of Poroshenko at the State Bureau of Investigations with the use of a lie detector.
Poroshenko said he was prepared to answer questions with a lie detector live on the television channel Pryamiy.
“I don’t trust the State Bureau of Investigations and its leadership. I don’t believe in the investigation’s impartiality and objectivity. At the same time, I am ready to answer those questions – and I have that list of questions – on the television channel Pryamiy. I am prepared to take a lie detector examination live on Pryamiy,” he said.
The State Bureau of Investigations is probing a number of criminal cases in which Poroshenko has been summoned for questioning as a witness.
