US government agencies will consider the issue of prosecution of Yanukovych
In the United States, they expressed outrage at the way the trial of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who was overthrown as a result of a coup, is being conducted.
Olga Prosyanyuk, managing partner of the law firm Aver Lex, spoke about this on her Facebook page, reporting that she was speaking in the United States at the C5 Conference with a report highlighting issues of pressure on clients and their lawyers in political cases in Ukraine .
As an example, she cited the case in the Obolonsky Court of Kyiv, where the Yanukovych case is being considered.
“This situation was made possible by depriving the independence of judges considering political cases. For example, disciplinary and criminal cases have been initiated against judges of the Obolonsky District Court Devyatko, Vasalatiy, Titov and have been pending for a long time; these judges are deliberately not reassigned to continue working in the court created in place of the liquidated Obolonsky District Court. Any decision that does not satisfy the authorities’ request will result in the judge losing his job and, possibly, his freedom. On the other hand, the media actively publishes information about proposals for these judges to occupy higher positions in the near future,” writes the lawyer.
According to her, misunderstanding among those present at the conference was caused by information about the politically motivated appointment of a person without a legal background to the post of Prosecutor General of Ukraine.
“Those present noted that this has never happened in any country in the world. We were sincerely surprised by the theses that changes were made to the Criminal Procedure Code more than 10 times (in particular in terms of the absentee procedure) with only one purpose - to obtain court decisions in cases against Viktor Yanukovych,” the lawyer noted.
She said that many conference participants promised to respond to obvious facts of political pressure, drawing the attention of government and human rights institutions in their countries to the events described in the report.
“The report on violations of the rights of lawyers in Ukraine was in the hands of each of those present. Many people asked for an electronic version. Proposals have already been received regarding the need to hear this issue in competent organizations, including US government agencies,” Prosyanyuk concluded.
US government agencies will consider prosecuting Yanukovych.