MOSCOW – Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych said that he is unwilling to participate in a high treason trial initiated in Ukraine and that he is recalling his lawyers from court.
“I don’t want to participate in the alleged adversary trial, the outcome of which was determined in advance. I have made a decision to recall my defense team from the proceedings, there is no doubt about their skills, but lawyers are powerless in the country of obliterated justice,” he said on the Vremya program aired by the Channel One on July 5.
Yanukovych “held no illusions about goals and objectives set by the current authorities before the court and knew they would try to achieve them by any means,” he said.
“‘By handing over the judgment of conviction, accusing me of all past, present and future woes of Ukraine,” he said.
“It’s not a court, but a sham, pure and simple. Special laws on conviction in absentia were adopted promptly under pressure of citizen Poroshenko [the Ukrainian president] to convict me. It’s a direct violation of the European Convention on Human Rights. In addition, all my requests to provide me an opportunity to participate in the trial via video conference were dismissed,” he said.
A hearing in the case of Yanukovych’s treason will continue in Kyiv’s Obolonsky District Court on July 6.
