Yanukovich puts full stop to treason trial

Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich has put a full atop to the treason trial against him by withdrawing from it and declaring it unlawful and politically biased, defense attorney Vitaly Serdyuk said.

The attorney added that "the legitimacy of the trial was based only on Viktor Yanukovich’s willingness to participate, testify and establish the truth." However, in Serdyuk’s words, when a trial in absentia began, the former president was deprived of such an opportunity. "Besides, this decision is in line with Yuri Lutsenko’s promise to prevent Viktor Yanukovich from taking part in the trial," the attorney said.

According to Serdyuk, the step that Yanukovich has taken will facilitate the process of handing the case over to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), as "the number of violations in the case is enough for an international court to start a legal procedure to figure out the truth about the events which took place in 2013 and 2014", TASS reported.

On Wednesday, Yanukovich announced his decision to withdraw from the treason trial taking place in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, and call off his defense attorneys. In his opinion, during the trial, "all the principles and rules of law were violated, Ukraine’s constitution was trampled on and the rules of procedure were neglected," while the outcome of the trial "was decided beforehand.".