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Attorney says impossible to continue trial against ex-Ukrainian president

The attorney noted that the attempts to legitimize the process by appointing a public defender from a center for free-of-charge legal assistance will fail

KIEV, July 6. /TASS/. Lawyer Vitaly Serdyuk has said it is impossible to continue the trial and implementation of justice at Kiev’s Obolonsky district court against former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich.

"Just now, the defense team has filed a statement that it is impossible to implement justice. Yanukovich has put a full stop in this process, which turned out to be a political talk show. The number of violations committed by the Prosecutor General’s Office and the court puts a full stop here, bringing any decision to failure," Serdyuk said ahead of the court session.

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The attorney noted that the attempts of Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office to legitimize the process by appointing a public defender from a center for free-of-charge legal assistance will fail. "The court has made it impossible for him to take part in the process and the trial without Yanukovich’s participation won’t be legally binding," he said.

Serdyuk stressed that Yanukovich does not plan to stop fight and has handed over to the Prosecutor General’s Office his statement condemning the 2014 coup d’etat in Ukraine, detailing all the events and requesting the interrogation of all those persons behind them, including Prosecutor General Yuri Lutsenko.

Yanukovich said on Wednesday he decided to refuse to take part in the trial against him on charges of high treason underway in Kiev and call off his defense attorneys. He said all possible principles and norms of law have been violated and the legal procedures have been completely ignored.

Kiev’s district court will continue the trial against Yanukovich on Thursday. The court earlier decided to try the former president in absentia.

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