KIEV, March 19 (Itar-Tass) —— Ukraine’s president has no right to meddle with the trial of former Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko, President Viktor Yanukovich said on Sunday.
“I have no right to give any comments, let alone to meddle with the trial. Any of my words might be taken as pressure either on investigators, or prosecutors, or judges. As for Yulia Vladimirovna [Timoshenko], the trial is not yet over, a court of review, a higher instance court, is ahead. I find it difficult to say what decision it takes. The new case is over, now lawyers are studying it, a new trial is ahead,” Yanukovich said in an exclusive interview with Itar-Tass.
“As for my constitutional rights, for instance in respect of Yulia Timoshenko and any other person under trial, I will always use them to the full but only when the trial is over, when corresponding sentences are awarded. This case, of course, is special. It hypes up not only Ukraine but other countries as well. But again, I have inherited this problem, since trials on all cases related to Timoshenko have been proceeding for years in many countries – in Switzerland, in the United States, in Russia, and now in Ukraine. It looks like quite a natural process. Why the problem has been awarded such a high political status, well, it seems time is ripe, and we will have to take this fact into account. I am confident that the enormous pressure on the system of law enforcement bodies, on investigators, on judges is playing in the hands of those who are facing trial. As soon as we adopt a code of criminal procedure, it will be clear which cases might be revised. Naturally, they will be revised. We have take the path of humanization,” said the Ukrainian leader.
As for his personal attitude towards Timoshenko, Yanukovich said he had “felt hatred to a man in general and to Yuila Timoshenko.” On the contrary, “I am astonished at the hatred and evil she has, as have some of her, say, companions or supporters,” he said. “Why being so hateful and evil.”