ECHR starts hearing Yanukovych's complaint against Ukraine

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has begun hearing a complaint lodged by former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych against Ukraine, the court's press service has reported.

According to the text of the complaint, Yanukovych believes that "the Ukrainian authorities failed to conduct an effective investigation into the assassination attempts" on him in early 2014.

The former president also complains of the length of the criminal proceedings that have been brought against him. In his opinion, "the Ukrainian courts are neither independent nor impartial" and "the proceedings to date, which have been conducted in his absence, have not been fair."

Yanukovych also said that "condemnatory statements made by public officials" against him "have undermined the presumption of innocence."

According to the report, Yanukovych's complaint was filed with the European Court of Human Rights on October 9, 2015. On October 11 this year, the ECHR started hearing the application and asked the Ukrainian government to comment in writing on the circumstances of the case.

On January 24, 2019, Kyiv's Obolonsky District Court sentenced Yanukovych in absentia to 13 years in prison for treason and aiding and abetting Russia's aggressive war against Ukraine.

At the same time, Yanukovych was acquitted on charges of violating Ukraine's territorial integrity.

According to the court ruling, the term of Yanukovych's sentence will be counted from the time of his detention.

Yanukovych's defense team appealed the verdict in the treason case.

On October 2, 2020, Kyiv Court of Appeal upheld the verdict against Yanukovych in the treason case.

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