Photo from UNIAN

The lawyer of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, Oleksandr Baidyk, has asked the court to resume the judicial investigation in the "Yanukovych treason" case and interrogate 13 witnesses.

Baidyk recalled that 43 witnesses had been questioned during the trial, while the ex-president's defense requested that the court question 144 people, according to an UNIAN correspondent.

He also asked the court to interrogate the witnesses who had not been questioned so far.

Видео дня

In turn, prosecutor Maksym Krym said the witnesses named by the lawyer had been interrogated during the pre-trial investigation, in particular, the Ukrainian military from Crimea. He also added he saw no reason to interrogate these people again in court. Presiding judge Vladyslav Devyatko clarifiedthat  52 witnesses had been questioned, 15 defense witnesses among them, including former high-ranking officials and Yanukovych's guards, adding that the court would not satisfy the motion.

Read also"Yanukovych Helipad" handed back to Kyiv municipal community

"The court gives you an explanation. During the trial, we have interrogated 52 witnesses, 15 of whom were those chosen by defense. At the request of the defense, the court allowed to question such witnesses as Mykola Azarov, Andriy Klyuyev, Vitaliy Zakharchenko, Oleksandr Yakymenko, and Pavlo Lebedev. These witnesses were over 10 times summoned to report to the court, however, they did not arrive for questioning without good reason. Therefore, the court completed the investigation without interrogating them […] Therefore, the court rules there are no grounds to resume the trial investigation."

After that, the lawyer continued to read his debate speech.

As reported earlier, Yanukovych is being accused of high treason, complicity with the Russian authorities, deliberate actions aimed at altering the borders of Ukraine in the breach of the procedure established by the Constitution of Ukraine, and waging aggressive war.

On June 29, 2017, Kyiv's Obolonsky district court granted the prosecution's request for the trial in absentia in the Yanukovych case.