Lawyers for Viktor Yanukovych intend to turn to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in relation to violations during a high treason trial against the ex-president of Ukraine.
“As well as the Court of Appeal, we will turn to the U.S. embassy, the embassies of European countries, to make sure that international institutions give their relevant assessment of this act which the government calls a ‘trial.’ At the ECHR, we will complain about all instances of violation of the right to defense, of which there is a significant number,” one of Yanukovych’s lawyers, Oleksandr Horoshynsky, told reporters after the sentencing hearing on Jan. 24.
Another, Oleksandr Baidyk, said: “We will turn to all possible international institutions, appeal with the Court of Appeal for this sentence to be overturned because it is politically motivated.”
The Obolonsky district court of Kyiv sentenced Yanukovych to 13 years of imprisonment after finding him guilty of high treason and abetting Russia’s aggressive war against Ukraine.
At the same time the court found him not guilty of abetting the encroachment on the territorial integrity of Ukraine, resulting in deaths or other grave consequences.
