Kiev Court Arrested Yanukovych in Absentia

Viktor Yanukovych who is allegedly staying in the Russian Federation, was arrested for two months in his absence in the case of violent state power seizure. On Monday, May 4, Kiev’s Pechersky district court granted the prosecutor’s office petition in the case of the forcible state power seizure and passed the two-month absentee arrest resolution of former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych who is outside Ukraine. Lawyer Vitaly Serdyuk noted that the defense intends to appeal the decision. In 2017, Russian media reported that apparently, the ex-head of the Ukrainian state lives in the nearest Moscow region’s state villa, which belongs to one of the units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation. As UNIAN agency clarifies, Yanukovych’s lawyers insisted that their client participate in the meeting through a procedure for providing international legal assistance with Russia. However, the prosecutor concluded that in this case, the presence of the suspect at the meeting is not mandatory. Sentenced to 13 years of prison In January 2019, the board of the Obolonsky District Court of Kiev sentenced Viktor Yanukovych, former President of Ukraine to 13 years in prison in absentia, convicting him of high treason and aiding in waging an aggressive war. The charge of complicity in the encroachment on the territorial integrity of Ukraine was dropped from Yanukovych due to lack of evidence. The prosecutor's office demanded that the ex-president of Ukraine be sentenced to 15 years of prison. The Obolon court began considering the Yanukovych case in May 2017. The hearings were held in accordance with the special absentee procedure. One of the main evidences against Yanukovych was his letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin dated March 1, 2014, in which he asked that the Russian armed forces be used to “restore law and order” in Ukraine.