Kyiv court rules not to arrest former Ukrainian President Poroshenko
Kyiv’s Pechersk District Court on Jan. 19 ruled not to arrest former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who has been charged with high treason, although the court did place some restrictions on the current European Solidarity MP.
Judge Oleksiy Sokolov, presiding over the hearing, ruled that Poroshenko must hand over his passport for traveling abroad, and appear in court on a judicial summons.
But the prosecution’s preferred measures – pre-trial detention and bail of UAH 15 million ($536,000) – were not applied.
High treason case against Poroshenko
Poroshenko has been charged with treason and providing support to terrorists over what the SBI alleges was a scheme to sign contracts for coal supply from Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine, supposedly making “…Ukraine’s energy supply dependent on Russia and the Russia-controlled self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics.”
The Poroshenko-founded European Solidarity opposition party have denied the charges against its leader, and accused incumbent Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of trying to repress his political opponents.
Kyiv’s Pechersk District Court on Jan. 6 ordered the seizure of the property owned by Poroshenko.
The property seized by the court includes several apartments in the cities of Vinnytsia and Kyiv, a manor house in the village of Kozyn, 25 kilometers to the south of the capital, land plots, and shares in private companies. It does not apply to his media holdings, or any ownership stake in the Roshen confectionary company.
Poroshenko, who had been outside the country on what his representatives said was a diplomatic tour to Poland and Turkey, returned to Ukraine on Jan. 17 from Warsaw. He immediately took part in a court hearing, but the judge’s ruling was delayed at the time.
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