The defense team of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who is implicated in high treason, will appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) over the breach of his right to defense, the Aver Lex bar association said with reference to lawyer Vitaly Serdiuk.
“In the course of today’s hearing, the court recessed to the chambers to decide whether the reason for Viktor Yanukovych’s non-appearance in the courtroom was valid. It [the court] however returned with a ready decision to hear the high treason case ‘in absentia’, which would strip the defense of the right to raise objections and to present other evidence of the impossibility and illegality of this procedure. Besides, we would like to draw your attention to the unwillingness to hear not only the testimony of Viktor Yanukovych but also to his defense and witnesses,” Aver Lex quoted Serdiuk as saying.
The fact that the court is in such a hurry and breaches the right to defense and the principle of adversary trial, guaranteed by the Ukrainian Criminal Procedure Code and Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, is proof of the authorities’ pressure on the judges, the defense said.
‘The primary motivation behind the trial ‘in absentia’ is the attempt to deny Viktor Yanukovych a chance to question the incumbent leaders of the country about the events which happened in February-March 2014, which he demanded earlier,” Serdiuk said.
The Obolonsky District Court of Kyiv decided on June 29 to hear the case of former Ukrainian President Yanukovych on the counts of high treason and some other crimes in a special proceeding (in absentia). The panel of judges made the decision at the request of the Military Prosecutor’s Office.
