HACC Appeals Chamber partially changes preventive measure for Tymoshenko

This was announced by the presiding judge of the HACC Appeals Chamber, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

“The panel of judges has ruled: the appeals filed by the defense are to be partially granted. The ban on traveling outside the Kyiv region and on communicating with members of parliament is lifted,” the judge said.

Tymoshenko’s defense urged the court to deny the prosecutor’s motion or, at the very least, to apply a preventive measure in the form of a personal obligation.

Among other arguments, the defense stated that the assignment of Judge Vitalii Dubas, who decided to impose bail as a preventive measure, had allegedly been carried out in violation of the procedure for the automated case distribution system.

The lawyers called on the court to overturn the ruling that set bail at more than UAH 33 million, arguing that it had allegedly been issued by an unlawfully appointed judge.

Tymoshenko’s defense counsel also stated that at the time Judge Dubas was assigned to the case, he allegedly did not have the highest workload coefficient among other judges.

According to the lawyer, “there are at least well-grounded suspicions that Dubas was artificially assigned to this case.”

During the hearing, the MP herself stated that there had been no criminal offense in her actions.

In addition, Tymoshenko’s defense said that a detective of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) had refused to allow the MP to go on a business trip to Lviv, which they had previously requested.

In the appellate complaint, the prosecutor asked the court to impose a preventive measure in the form of UAH 50 million in bail and, among other things, to oblige Tymoshenko to wear an electronic ankle monitor, as well as to reject the defense’s appeal.

The court allowed Tymoshenko to communicate with MPs and to travel outside the Kyiv region, while denying the rest of the defense’s motions and the prosecutor’s request.

During the hearing, the court also added certain documents to the case file at the request of the defense.

As previously reported by Ukrinform, on January 16 the High Anti-Corruption Court imposed a preventive measure on Tymoshenko in the form of bail exceeding UAH 33 million.

The full amount of the bail has now been posted.