Yanukovych Suspected Of High Treason, PGO Insists

The Prosecutor-General’s Office (PGO) insists that former President Viktor Yanukovych is suspected of high treason and several other crimes.

Prosecutor General Yurii Lutsenko's press secretary Larysa Sarhan announced this on Facebook, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

As long as Yanukovych has been staying at an unknown place in Russia since 2014 with intent of avoiding law-enforcement agencies of Ukraine, a written notice of suspicion was sent to all known addresses of his residence and stay in Ukraine.

A notice was also sent to the address of his possible residence in Russia, by email to the Rostov Region Court for delivery to Yanukovych, to the Prosecutor-General’s Office of the Russian Federation with a request for inter-court assistance to hand it in to Yanukovych and question him as a suspect.

In order to ensure that Yanukovych is aware of the suspicion and to secure his procedural rights as a suspect, a series of additional measures was taken.

In particular, Lutsenko explained the essentials of the suspicion to Yanukovych during the video conference between the Sviatoshynskyi District Court of Kyiv and the Rostov Region Court.

The suspicion was sent to the law office where Yanukovych’s legal counsels work, and was published on the PGO’s official website.

The notice of suspicion was also sent to the address for service in Kyiv stated by Yanukovych himself in the provided to the prejudicial inquiry body by his legal counsels.

The pre-trial investigation continues.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, Lutsenko announced the text of the notice of suspicion of Yanukovych of high treason.