Court to continue hearing on appeal in Yanukovych treason case on Sept. 23
The Kyiv Court of Appeals will continue hearings on September 23 on the appeal against the verdict against former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in the treason case.
At a meeting on Sept. 13, the court examined a number of motions filed by the defense, in particular, on ensuring the appearance of Yanukovych for the consideration of the appeal within the framework of international legal assistance, according to an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent.
The next hearing will start at 11:00 a.m. on September 23.
As reported, on January 24, 2019, the Obolonsky District Court of Kyiv sentenced Yanukovych to 13 years in prison for treason and aiding the Russian Federation in waging an aggressive war against Ukraine. At the same time, the court found Yanukovych not guilty on charges of complicity in the infringement of the territorial integrity of Ukraine, which led to deaths or other grave consequences.
The defense party requests that the reference to the circumstance mitigating Yanukovych’s punishment be excluded from the motivation of the sentence, “committing crimes under the influence of dependence on representatives of the authorities of the Russian Federation.”
On January 24, 2019, Kyiv’s Obolonsky District Court sentenced Yanukovych to 13-years imprisonment after finding him guilty of treason. At the same time, the court found him not guilty of abetting encroachment on the territorial integrity of Ukraine, resulting in deaths or other grave consequences.
The defense requests that the reference to the circumstance mitigating Yanukovych’s punishment be excluded from the statement of reasons in the verdict, namely “committing crimes under the influence of dependence on representatives of the Russian Federation’s authorities.”
Lawyers also ask to exclude the link to the video recording of an interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in which he “emphasized three times that he had an official appeal from the ‘legitimate President of Ukraine Yanukovych’ on the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, which he (Putin) considered as the sufficient legal ground from the point of view of international law for the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine.”
On February 25, the deadline for filing appeals against the verdict of Yanukovych in the case of high treason expired. Before that, on February 22, Yanukovych’s lawyer, Oleksandr Baidyk, asked the court to correct clerical errors in the verdict. The Obolonsky District Court of Kyiv responded that the issue of correcting the errors would be addressed after the consideration of all appeals.
On March 1, the Obolonsky court forwarded all six appeals from Yanukovych’s lawyers against the verdict to the appeals court.
On March 6, the appeals court returned the verdict in the Yanukovych treason case with the appeals of his lawyers to the Obolonsky court to consider motions for the correction of the errors and clarification of the verdict.
On March 20, the Obolonsky court denied the ex-president’s defense the satisfaction of motions to clarify the verdict in the treason case on the basis that the verdict “is set out in clear and understandable words and sentences.”
On April 2, the same court sent the files of the case to the Kyiv Court of Appeals to consider appeals by the defense.
On June 13, the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) announced that the panel of judges of the Kyiv Court of Appeals will appoint a reserve judge to review the appeal against the verdict in the Yanukovych treason case. Then the court determined the dates of the next court hearings, slating them for July 15 and July 22.
On July 15, the Kyiv Court of Appeals postponed the consideration of appeals against the verdict of Kyiv’s Obolonsky court in the Yanukovych treason case until September 13.
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