Fugitive president dodges Kiev court

Maxim Tucker, Kiev

It was supposed to signal the start of a trial that millions of Ukrainians have dreamt of for nearly three years.

Viktor Yanukovych, left, spoke via video link to a court in Kiev as a witness in the trial of five officers accused of opening fire on demonstrators in 2014, VALERY MATYTSIN/GETTY IMAGES

Viktor Yanukovych, their fugitive former president, appeared in court yesterday to answer questions about his role in the slaughter of more than a hundred pro-European protesters, killed by security forces during the demonstrations that led to his downfall in February 2014.

Ukrainian officials had promised to charge him with mass murder but he is safe in Russia under the protective wing of Vladimir Putin.

He spoke via video link to a packed Kiev courthouse from an empty one across the border, ostensibly as a witness in the trial of five officers accused of opening fire on demonstrators. “Your honours, I would like, first and foremost, to say that I want to testify — this is my personal decision,” Mr Yanukovych said. “I want the truth to be established in this affair and it will definitely appear.” His statement was greeted with jeers in Kiev.

A curious series of events had conspired to prevent his testimony. First, a fire at a local substation temporarily knocked out electricity to the courthouse district in Kiev.

Then, two hours before Mr Yanukovych was due to appear, a handful of camouflage-clad Ukrainian nationalists blockaded the detention centre holding the accused officers, preventing their arrival at court.

Mr Yanukovych was asked to return on Monday, but a nationalist spokesman suggested that a second prison blockade was likely. The slow progress has raised questions about the government’s commitment to bringing old cronies to justice.

President Poroshenko was a founding member of Mr Yanukovych’s Party of Regions. A thorough investigation into Mr Yanukovych’s affairs could risk retaliatory disclosures.

“Personally, I think the video interrogation is an absolute disgrace,” Zorian Shkiryak, chief adviser to the internal affairs ministry, said.

“Yanukovych, apparently, was sitting all night and learning those instructions, which were written for him, because he would not agree to this without a direct order from Putin.”

Mr Yanukovych told reporters yesterday that he regretted “not having called in the army and declared martial law” in his effort to crush the revolt. “It would have been the only way to stop the radicals, but I couldn’t bring myself to resort to a bloodbath,” he said.

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