The case of the ex-prime minister began to be considered in the Court of Appeal

Yesterday, the Kyiv Court of Appeal began considering appeals filed by ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and her defenders. The preliminary meeting took place in the absence of Mrs. Tymoshenko, who was unable to take part in it due to poor health. At the same time, Judge Elena Sitailo did not satisfy a single request of the defense - she refused to suspend the consideration of the case until the convict recovered, change her measure of restraint and re-conduct a judicial investigation.

Order in the territory of the Kyiv Court of Appeal, which yesterday began considering the complaint of ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and her lawyers against the verdict of the Pechersky District Court of Kyiv, was ensured by soldiers of the Berkut special forces unit. Several cordons were set up near the courthouse. In addition, buses with special forces soldiers were in the yard. Representatives of the court warned in advance that no one other than the participants in the trial would be able to be present in the courtroom, saying that it would be possible to observe the progress of the hearing in the conference room, where a video broadcast would be organized.

The parliamentarians, led by the first deputy head of the BYuT-Batkivshchyna faction, Andrei Kozhemyakin, nevertheless tried to enter the hall, presenting their parliamentary ID cards, but when they failed, they tried to break through the Berkut cordon by force. “The trial is turning into a farce even before it begins,” said first deputy chairman of the Batkivshchyna party, Alexander Turchynov.

The Pechersky District Court of Kyiv began considering the case of Yulia Tymoshenko exceeding power and official authority on June 24. On August 5, a preventive measure in the form of detention was chosen for the ex-prime minister. The basis for her arrest was “systemic violations of discipline,” as well as “deliberate delay in the process.” On October 11, the court sentenced Ms. Tymoshenko, finding her guilty of abuse of power and official authority when signing an agreement on the supply of Russian gas in 2009 and sentencing her to seven years in prison. In addition, it must compensate for damage to NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine in the amount of UAH 1.51 billion (see Kommersant of October 12) .

The court hearing started half an hour late. It was clear on the screen that in the hall where the hearing of the case was taking place, there were almost twice as many seats as in the Pechersky District Court. At the same time, the hall was practically empty. Yulia Tymoshenko missed yesterday's meeting. “The convict has received a statement that due to health reasons she cannot be present in court,” announced judge Elena Sitailo.

Consideration of the appeal began with Yulia Tymoshenko's defense filing a motion to disqualify the judge. The lawyers motivated their request by the fact that they did not know on what basis the judge was replaced two days before the start of the hearing (prior to this, the case had been under consideration by Irina Gorb for about a month).

“All this indicates the presence of circumstances that raise doubts about the objectivity of the judge,” said Ms. Tymoshenko’s lawyer, Yuri Sukhov.

“These are only subjective impressions and a subjective assessment - there is no objective data to challenge the judge,” retorted prosecutor Alexander Mikitenko.

It took the judge a little over half an hour to make a decision. “I believe that there are no grounds for recusal,” Ms. Sitailo announced. She also reported that on November 29, Judge Gorb wrote a statement of recusal due to the fact that she had previously taken part in the consideration of cases that may be related to the case of Yulia Tymoshenko. After which, according to Judge Sitailo, a re-automatic distribution of this case was organized.

The next step of the defense was a request to suspend the consideration of the case until the ex-prime minister could take part in the process. “We are talking about objective circumstances, since Yulia Tymoshenko cannot attend the meeting for health reasons,” noted defense lawyer Nikolai Siry. “The failure of the convicted person to appear at the preliminary hearing does not prevent the consideration of the case,” said prosecutor Liliya Frolova.

It took the judge two hours to decide on this motion. During the break, Alexander Turchinov said that Yulia Tymoshenko received the results of her examination (see Kommersant on November 29) and handed them over to “leading medical experts for examination.” “According to their conclusions, Yulia Tymoshenko needs to be hospitalized immediately, since there is a real threat to her health and life,” he said.

“There are no grounds for granting the petition,” Elena Sitailo said after a break. “The case can be considered by a single judge with the obligatory participation of the prosecutor and the possible participation of the second party.”

Having announced her decision, the judge read out a report in which she outlined, in particular, which appeals related to this case are being considered by the Kyiv Court of Appeal. There were several dozen of them. After the judge, Yulia Tymoshenko's defenders took the floor again. In particular, lawyer Yuri Sukhov demanded a full judicial investigation with interrogation of all witnesses, examinations and confrontations. In addition, the defense filed a motion to change the preventive measure to one not related to detention. One of the reasons for this, according to lawyers, is the state of health of Mrs. Tymoshenko, which lawyer Alexander Plahotniuc told the court about. “According to the conclusion of well-known specialists in Ukraine, in particular, corresponding member of the National Academy of Medical Sciences, Doctor of Medical Sciences, specialist in the field of neurosurgery Nikolai Polishchuk, Yulia Vladimirovna requires surgical intervention. It is no secret that it is impossible to carry out an operation in the conditions of the Kyiv pre-trial detention center.” , noted the lawyer. The state prosecution opposed all defense motions.

During the discussion in the trial, a technical break was announced for 15 minutes. According to people's deputy Sergei Odarchenko (BYuT-Batkivshchyna), during this, an ambulance arrived in the courtyard. As it turned out, doctors were called to assist Elena Sitailo herself. The technical break lasted for about 40 minutes, after which the trial resumed. Having finally heard all the persons who filed appeals, after the end of the working day the judge retired to the deliberation room.

This time the judge had an hour to make a decision. Elena Sitailo refused to change the preventive measure for Yulia Tymoshenko, as well as to conduct a re-trial in full. Predictably, the ex-prime minister’s defenders did not agree with such decisions. They suspected that the judge did not make the decision on her own, but “the decision was prepared in advance, and the text was handed over to her.”

“Unfortunately, our most pessimistic forecasts are coming true,” said the head of the ex-Prime Minister’s defense team, Sergei Vlasenko, at the end of yesterday’s meeting. “The court does not allow a full consideration of the appeal, refuses to continue the judicial investigation, to interrogate those who were not interrogated in the court of first instance. K Unfortunately, we note that there was no justice in this case."

The next meeting, at which the consideration of Yulia Tymoshenko's case on the merits will begin, will take place on December 13.

Elena Geda

Newspaper "Kommersant Ukraine" No. 201 dated 02.12.2011, page 1

Themes:

The case of Yulia Tymoshenko

Second round of Yulia Tymoshenko