The court found the ex-president of Ukraine guilty of treason: he was given 13 years

Obolonsky district court of Kiev 24 January in absentia found the former president of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych guilty of high treason and complicity in aggressive war.

Фото: Depositphotos

He was sentenced to 13 years in prison, writes “Ukrainian Truth".

At the same time, the court rejected charges of “assistance in deliberate actions committed with the aim of changing the boundaries of the territory and state border of Ukraine,” which also accused Yanukovych. The judges did not see convincing evidence indicating that Yanukovych was informed about the ultimate goal of the Russians' illegal actions - the annexation of Crimea.

The court also ruled that the prosecutor's office did not provide sufficient evidence that Yanukovych acted to change the borders of Ukraine. In his statements, the court did not establish calls for such actions.

“His (Yanukovych’s) punishment and correction are impossible without isolation from society,” the court’s decision says.

However, the court did not find grounds for applying the heaviest punishment - 15 years of imprisonment, which the prosecutor's office requested.

In addition, Yanukovych must pay more than 98 thousand hryvnia ($ 3 530) procedural costs.

The verdict states that the actions of Russia in the Crimea qualify as an act of aggression, and the actions of Yanukovych - as complicity in this.

The judges also called Yanukovych’s false statements about certain attacks on him, the threat to the Russian-speaking population of Ukraine after the Revolution of Dignity in 2014, and signs of a humanitarian catastrophe.

In confirmation of the Russian aggression, the court recalled that the right to self-determination was exercised in the Crimea at the 1991 referendum of the year, in which the inhabitants of the peninsula supported the independence of Ukraine and the autonomy of Crimea in its composition, and the pseudo-referendum held by 16 in March of 2014 was organized under occupation, therefore its results cannot be recognized.

The ex-president’s defense insisted on his innocence and argued that the annexation of Crimea was led not by Yanukovych, but by Euromaidan activists and people who came to power after the revolution.

Absentee condemnation provides that Yanukovych will be arrested to serve his sentence if he can be detained. Only after this will begin to count the prison sentence.

Now the verdict is not yet valid, since the parties have 30 days to appeal, the decision will take effect in a month if no one submits a complaint. But the defense of Yanukovych has already declared its intention file an appeal.

According to the court spokesman, the sentence consists of 143 pages.

Recall pYanukovych's insight was announced in 2016 year, when he testified in the case of the shooting of participants of the Maidan. The basis of the charges was the appeal of Yanukovych to Russian President Vladimir Putin from 1 in March 2014 of the year in which the Ukrainian ex-president asked to enter Russian troops in Ukraine.

Yanukovych also appears in other criminal proceedings, which are now at the stage of investigation. This, in particular, the illegal seizure of state residences, crimes against the revolutionaries, numerous economic crimes and so on.

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