Translated by Ollie Richardson & Angelina Siard
15:54:09
24/01/2019
alternatio.org/russian.rt.com
The former president of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych was found guilty of appealing to the Russian president Vladimir Putin to send troops to Ukraine. This was stated by the judge of the Obolonsky regional court Vladislav Devyatko during the announcement of the verdict.
In particular, the court established that Yanukovych on March 1st 2014 on the territory of the Russian Federation deliberately assisted with the violation of the sovereignty of Ukraine, as well as to legitimise Russian aggression, when he sent an appeal to Putin with a request to enter the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
“Despite the defendant’s non-recognition of any guilt, the court, having heard the testimonies of witnesses, having investigated expert opinions, documents, and material evidence, having evaluated the case of the prosecution and defence, considers that the accused’s guilt of committing crimes stipulated by part 1 of article 111, part 5 of article 27, and part 2 of article 437 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine is proved by the adequate and admissible evidence”
said the judge
The Main Military Prosecutor’s office brought the indictment on the case of treason to trial in March, 2017. Yanukovych is not involved in court hearings and is not present on the territory of Ukraine, instead hiding in the Russian Federation.
The prosecution asks to punish Yanukovych with 15 years of imprisonment.
The lawyer of Yanukovych, Vitaly Serdyuk, in a conversation with RT said that in the near future proof of the participation of Ukrainian officials in the events on “Maidan” in 2014 will be published and sent to the state authorities of Ukraine and international organisations.
“The defence has collected, published, and will again publish a lot of proof of the participation of a number of Ukrainian officials in these events (on ‘Maidan’ in 2014). These materials will soon be published together with a reasonable statement of a crime being committed by them, and even together with a draft indictment against these persons”
said Serdyuk
He specified that the materials will be transferred to all international organisations and to the competent organisations of the partner countries of Ukraine.
“The main motive and task that was set for the court concerning this process is to exempt those who are actually responsible for the tragedy on the ‘Maidan’ that happened in 2014 from liability… Those who are actually responsible are now in power and, being aware of their responsibility and possible punishment, initiated this process to rewrite the official history of 2014 and to shift responsibility from their shoulders to the shoulders of the president Viktor Yanukovych”
said Serdyuk
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