The case for Tymoshenko [video]

Watch this half hour video: "The trial of Yulia Tymoshenko. True story" here

Kiryeev's lunchtime phone call?

Just before midday today Rodion Kiryeev, the presiding judge in the Tymoshenko gas trial, announced that the court would be cleared when the court's sentence was to be passed. Only journalists [their cameras] and the trial's direct participants would be allowed to be present. This was interpreted by many present as confirmation of an guilty verdict.

All that remained before sentencing was a statement of conclusion from Tymoshenko, so the clear expectation was that the handing down of a sentence was soon to take place. A few minutes later the judge turned down the former PM's request for an adjournment until Monday to enable her to prepare this statement, but in response, declared a break until 2.00 p.m.

On return to the courtroom Tymoshenko again asked him for more time to prepare her final statement. Kiryeev's denied her request and proposed Tymoshenko continue with her last chance to address the court....

Tymoshenko retorted: "You have no other argument than that timetable painted for you by the president's administration."

Kiryeev then announced that he would be 'returning to his consulting rooms' until October 11th.

The impression throughout this week was that the court's verdict would be delivered today, so the only conclusion that can be reasonably drawn from this sequence of events is that, most likely, Kiryeev received a 'phone call during the lunch recess from Warsaw where Yanukovych had crumbled under the onslaught from EU leaders...

Had Kiryeev planned to adjourn proceeding until 11th October earlier, he wouldn't have made his statement about clearing the court before lunch would he?

Ukrainians consider trials against opposition leaders unjust

Last Friday's 'Shuster Live' programme was particularly bad-tempered - opposition parliamentary deputies eventually walked out in protest because of constant interruptions and harassment by Party of Regions' spokesmen.

Despite the PoR attack-dogs' vociferous protests, and their attempts to 'talk-down' former president Leonid Kravchuk, the latter, with the support of a visibly-annoyed Shuster, managed to conduct a straw poll among the supposedly representative studio audience.

Responding to the question, "Is that which is taking place in the Pechersk courthouse [where former PM Yulia Tymoshenko and former minister of Internal Affairs, Yuriy Lutsenko are being tried] justice?" 84% of the studio audience said 'No', 16% said 'Yes'.

Responding to the question, "Is Tymoshenko's behaviour in the court correct?" 60% said 'No', 40% said 'Yes', i.e. a majority do not like the courtroom being turned into a zoo.

Nevertheless, as I mentioned in a previous blog, a majority of Ukrainians, as well as Western observers have probably already made up their mind and decided these criminal cases are politically motivated.

The voting results in the studio would seem to support the notion that many 'undecideds', and many Yanukovych supporters, also perceive these criminal cases as being politically motivated.

My guess is Ukrainians are getting rather scared that too much power is being accumulated by the current Yanukovych-led power 'vertikal'.

Novice judging 'trial of the century'

Astonishingly, the 31-year old judge, Rodion Kireyev [see above], who is presiding over Yulia Tymoshenko's shambolic pre-trial hearing in Ukraine's 'trial of the century', has, until now, has only been involved in petty crime cases e.g. thefts of 1000 hryven, and everyday hooliganism. The hapless Kireyev, nicknamed "Harry Potter" in the media, was selected at random from a pool of judges..

His experience of multimillion-dollar fraud cases seems to be....er.. nil..

Looks like someone really "dropped him in the sh*t"...sent a boy to do a man's job..

No way to treat a lady..

Photos from day 2 of Yulia Tymoshenko's pre-trial hearing..

Intimidation, no?

Is this Pol Pot's Cambodia?

What else can be expected from the Donbas thugs that are in power today..What are they so scared of? Shame on them...

p.s. In a measured, brief presentation during last Friday's 'Shuster Live' show, old NUNS hand Roman Bessmertnyi, made the following points:

Whatever the judges, the president, and the cabinet of ministers say, the Ukrainian nation has already made up its mind - the criminal investigations and trials of Yulia Tymoshenko and Yuriy Lutsenko are politically motivated. This is what most Ukrainians believe.

Western politicians in the EU and beyond, whatever the the current authorities tell them, are convinced, and will remain convinced that these are acts of political repression. [Bessmertnyi was, until a few days ago, the Ukrainian ambassador in Belarus..]

Between 80 and 90% of the supposedly balanced studio audience at the Shuster show assessed Bessmertnyi's statements positively on their monitors while he was speaking..

p.p.s. Although Yanukovych's ratings are falling, Party of Regions' membership is burgeoning - it is now one of the biggest parties in Europe with one and one half million members...The author of this article says that in Soviet times, being a member of "the party" could only mean on thing. It's the same now...if you want to get on - you have to join the PoR. Simple as that. Just as in Soviet times...You have to join "the party" to be 'more equal than the others'..

p.p.p.s. The number of Ukrainians who consider no-one is safe from being tortured by the law enforcement agencies has increased to 66%. The figure was 61% two years ago.

The number who think coercion is widely practiced by the police has increased to 59% over the same period.

Last year 51 persons died inside police establishments. This year the figure so far, is 26.. ..

Trial in a cattle truck

Yulia Tymoshenko attended the first day of her pre-trial hearing today - in a courtroom the size of a cattle truck.

One report describes the scene thus: "Puddle of sweat on the floor. Dictaphones and camera slip from wet hands. Journalists, deputies, security guards, lawyers and others pressed tightly against each other. About fifty people are squeezed into the 40 square meter Pechersk courtroom. The air in the room is fetid, devoid of oxygen, and there's a smell of sweat. [See jacket of Tymoshenko's bodyguard, above]

Head of the European Commission to Ukraine, Jose Manuel Pinto Teixeira, who attended the court session, called the conditions in the courtroom where the Yulia Tymoshenko 'gas case' is being held, "inhuman".

"I just attended a meeting of the Pechersk district court, where the case against former Prime Minister of Ukraine has begun. I can testify to the inhuman conditions in which it taking place. A small room without any air conditioning was filled with a large number of people. There were also many people who could not get into the room standing in the corridor. But I think I was lucky. I stood at an open window and was able to withstand [the conditions] and even did not finish up in hospital because of dehydration, " said Teixeira.

Yulia Tymoshenko's attourney, Sergey Vlasenko, requested the court be transferred to a more suitable room. He suggest premises of two thousand square meters which were available in the Writers' Union headquarters nearby, free of charge.

Tymoshenko herself said: "In Soviet times, when dealing with dissidents' court cases, there was a directive - choose a small room where you cannot not invite the press or others to attend these processes. Your honour, I would like to once again urge you not to humiliate people today in this room, do not show contempt to them and their health. Look all those present in the room, look what condition they are in. Already several people have passed out in the hall. So I would like to support the request of my counsel. "

Judge Rodion Kiryeyev, [presiding over the case] said he will consider the request "at the appropriate stage of the process." As a result, the court hearing continued in the crush..".

Other reports claim there were over one hundred persons in the courtroom at one time, including a number of suspicious and moody-looking 'plant's who had been there before it had opened. The report estimates the entire 9-hour 'sauna' took place in a room of 30 square metres.

Ukraine's legal authorities have had plenty of time to organise this 'trial of the century'. But IMO their intention was to deliberately humiliate Tymoshenko, and subject her, and her team in court to 'inhuman' conditions - [dare I say "make them sweat?"]

Surely a twice head of government, well known throughout the world, whatever the rights and wrongs of the case, deserves better. This took place not in a third-world despotic African country, but in a member country of the Council of Europe, a country that considers itself 'part of Europe'.

Karadzic and Mladic are immeasurably better treated in the 'Hague Hilton'..

It is a humiliation not for the accused, but for the Ukrainian authorities and judiciary..

p.s. Brief Euronews video report here

p.p.s. Several unedited video clips of this 'kangaroo court in a cattle truck' here.