The court upheld the indictment of the military prosecutor's office, but admitted that the issue of special judicial proceedings could not be resolved on the motion of the prosecution on the basis of Yanukovych's failure to appear in court.
"The court denied the Prosecutor General's Office to apply the trial in absentia in respect of Viktor Yanukovych," he said after the preparatory meeting of Kyiv's Obolonskiy district court, and added that the defense fully supported this decision.
Read alsoKyiv court to consider Yanukovych treason case on its merits on June 26Answering the question whether there could be a video link with Yanukovych during the next court session, Serdiuk said that the defense would ask for such an option. "He [Yanukovych] expects such a decision of the court and wants both to provide evidence of the circumstances that occurred in 2014 and to personally take part in the interrogation of a number of witnesses from among the incumbent leaders of the state," the lawyer said.
If Yanukovych does not appear at the next court hearing, the court is likely to try him in absentia.
