Kyiv Court of Appeals explained why it withdrew Yanukovych’s arrest in absentia

The court noted that, in addition, the materials attached to the investigator's request contain a message from the Office of Legal Affairs of the Interpol General Secretariat about the decisions made following the consideration of Interpol Ukrbureau's petition to put Ukrainian ex-officials and related persons on an international arrest warrant. It states that the information about Yanukovych will be deleted from the Interpol databases, as it falls under Article 3 of the Interpol Statute, as one that is predominantly political.

According to the statement, Interpol didn't evaluate this decision, and the investigating judge of the Pechersk District Court, "ignored the fact that, according to Interpol, Yanukovych is not on the international wanted list."

According to the appellate court, the prosecution did not provide a certificate or an extract from the Interpol database, confirming Yanukovych's wanted status, either to the investigating judge of the Pechersk District Court, or the court of appeal.

"In addition, the investigating judge of the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv committed significant violations of the criminal procedure law, as the text of the original ruling in the proceedings differs from its certified copy provided by the suspect's defense attorneys," the Kyiv Court of Appeal said.

In particular, the resolution part of the May 12 original decision of the investigating judge of the Pechersk District Court, stated that Yanukovych was put under restraint by being held in custody within the pre-trial investigation, namely until July 10, 2020, but a copy of the decision, provided to the defense, doesn't contain a definition of its validity.

And the presence of end date of validity of the chosen measure of restraint or the absence of such a date in the decision of the investigating judge actually changes the essence of the decision made by the investigating judge and can not be considered a mistake, the court explains.

"Meanwhile, the appellate court panel of judges, following an appellate review of the decision of the investigating judge of the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv, concluded that the suspicion of Yanukovych's criminal offense was justified. There are also risks that give sufficient grounds to believe that the suspect may be hiding from the pre-trial investigation and/or court, illegally influencing the victim, witnesses, another suspect, expert, a criminal proceedings specialist, obstructing criminal proceedings, and doing criminal offense," the appellate court stated.

On November 16, the Kyiv Court of Appeals partially upheld an appeal by former President Viktor Yanukovych and overturned his arrest in absentia.