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Yanukovich case trial begins in Kiev

The country’s former permanent representative to the UN is expected to be questioned

KIEV, August 15. /TASS/. Kiev’s Obolonsky District Court has begun hearings in the case of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich accused of high treason. The country’s former Permanent Representative to the United Nations Yuri Sergeyev, whom the prosecution believes to be a key witness, is expected to be questioned.

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Ukraine’s ex-UN ambassador to be questioned in court in Yanukovich case

Sergeyev has already arrived in the court.

The prosecution earlier requested the court to question him claiming that he was "a direct witness who was present at the UN meetings and is capable of confirming the accusations against Yanukovich." The court agreed to change the rules of procedure in order to question Sergeyev as the former UN ambassador was to arrive from the US, where he currently resides, on August 12, and go back on August 17.

In response, Yanukovich’s defense attorneys said they would file a request with the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s office that Sergeyev be detained as he should be held accountable for "participating in the forcible seizure of power in connection with the 2014 coup case."

Yanukovich’s defense attorney Vitaly Serdyuk earlier supposed that the former UN ambassador’s testimony would contradict the prosecution’s position, since "while Sergeyev voiced Ukraine’s position at the UN meetings, he rejected Yanukovich’s statement [concerning his request to Russia to send troops to Ukraine - TASS] as null and void, while the prosecutor general believes this statement to be the crucial evidence in the high treason case."

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Ukraine crisis Viktor Yanukovych United Nations

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