The lawyer for Ukraine's former president Viktor Yanukovych, Vitaliy Serdiuk, has sent a petition to the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office asking that it hold inquiries, including the questioning of President Petro Poroshenko and other officials in the presence of Yanukovych (by video link).
A copy of the petition was made available to Interfax-Ukraine.
According to the document, Yanukovych wants to be questioned by the Prosecutor General’s Office in court simultaneously with Poroshenko, Ukraine’s ex-prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Verkhovna Rada Speaker Andriy Parubiy, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko and National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksandr Turchynov. The questioning must be held “with suspect Yanukovych’s defense lawyer Serdiuk being present in the courtroom” and Yanukovych taking part “by video link, in accordance with other rules for questioning at trial.”
The defense team is ready “to assist the inquiry in probing and verifying all circumstances to be ascertained in the case,” according to the petition.
“The defense team is ready to ensure suspect Yanukovych’s participation in the aforesaid proceedings via video link,” the document said.
As reported, on August 8 Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko said former and incumbent high-ranking Ukrainian officials had been summoned for questioning in connection with the “Maidan inquiries.”
A number of high-ranking politicians and officials were invited by the special investigations department of the Prosecutor General’s Office in August as witnesses in inquiries into the crimes dating back to January-February 2014 against Euromaidan activists. Among those invited were, in particular, Poroshenko, Yatsenyuk, Turchynov, Klitschko, Parubiy, and Head of Zakarpattia Regional State Administration Hennadiy Moskal.
