Military prosecutors indict ex-President Yanukovych for treason

"Taking into account that Yanukovych is not in Ukraine and is hiding from Ukrainian law-enforcement agencies, I will orally inform him one hour ago today official notice was sent to all known addresses of Yanukovych and his lawyer … I accuse Yanukovych as a Ukrainian citizen, of opening the door to the aggressor …," Lutsenko said in Kyiv’s Sviatoshynsky district court during a recess in court proceedings on Monday. "[Yanukovych] committed state treason … with the aim of assisting the Russian Federation (RF) to violate Ukraine's sovereignty, hoping to receiving the assistance and protection from representatives of the Russian Federation for living in that country and avoiding criminal responsibility [for his actions] in Ukraine … providing military units of the army of the Russian Federation the appearance of legitimacy for invading and occupying Crimea, while knowing the obvious illegality of his own actions, composed, signed and sent written appeals to the Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin a request to use the RF armed forces in Ukraine, and in doing so assisted in carrying out destabilizing activities against Ukraine, as well as assisting RF officials and the RF military in conducting an aggressive war against Ukraine and committing deliberate acts with the aim of redrawing Ukraine's state borders … This resulted in serious consequences, including the violation of Ukraine's territorial integrity and the occupation of Crimea, as well as damages to Ukraine, which, as a result, lost state enterprises and property valued at more than UAH 1.8 trillion," Lutsenko said, reading the text of the indictment. The PGO head said, "Taking into account this hearing is being conducted by Skype, I remind citizen Yanukovych this indictment against him is made by Ukraine's military prosecutor's office and has been given to his lawyer." Addressing Yanukovych, Lutsenko reminded him of his procedural rights in court. "And now, not as the PGO head, I accuse Yanukovych, a Ukrainian citizen, of opening the doors to aggression by our neighboring state and of violating the territorial integrity of Ukraine." Lutsenko said the indictment is pursuant to two articles of Ukraine’s Criminal Code – Articles 100 and 111 (treason and violating territorial integrity of Ukraine). After Lutsenko read the text of the indictment, representatives of Ukraine's military prosecutor's office served the text of the indictment to Yanukovych's lawyer Ihor Fedorenko, who was present in the courtroom. Fedorenko said, "I hope, as a lawyer, that you have observed the procedure for notifying the suspect in accordance with law. I hope you understand that serving a copy of the indictment to lawyer is not the same as official notification, but merely giving the lawyer a copy of a document." Lutsenko later near the courthouse told journalists that Yanukovych is suspected of committing at least 10 crimes. "Yanukovych will ultimately be a suspect in each of criminal investigations," he said.