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Ukrainian prosecutor general summons Yanukovich for questioning on treason charge

A number of Ukrainian lawyers have called prosecutor general’s statement made in Kiev’s Svyatoshinsky District Court null and void

© Valery Matytsin/TASS

KIEV, November 29. /TASS/. Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office has called ex-president Viktor Yanukovich for questioning on a high treason charge, the corresponding subpoena was published on the Prosecutor General’s website.

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Deposed Ukrainian president says Maidan leaders should testify in court as well

Yanukovich has been summoned to be interrogated by the head of the investigation department of the Military Prosecutor General’s office on December 5 and 9.

On Monday, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Yuri Lutsenko charged Viktor Yanukovich with "high treason, colluding with the Russian authorities in order to alter Ukraine’s borders, violating Ukraine’s Constitution and waging an aggressive war." The charges against Yanukovich were brought during an interval in the court hearing on the Maidan events case, during which Yanukovich had been responding to the court’s questions via videoconference while in Russia’s city of Rostov-on-Don.

Lutsenko pointed out that he was serving the charges on Yanukovich viva voce but "a document will be handed over to Yanukovich’s attorney." The written charges will be soon forwarded to all the known Yanukovich’s addresses, including the one in Russia.

A number of Ukrainian lawyers have called prosecutor general’s statement made in Kiev’s Svyatoshinsky District Court null and void. "According to the relevant regulations, any written charges should be handed over directly to the person involved," attorney Andrei Smirnov said. At the same time, he stressed that Yanukovich had received no such notifications.

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Ukraine crisis Viktor Yanukovych Eastern Ukraine

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