[EN] Захисники Ю.Тимошенко ставили багато запитань свідку не по суті справи - прокурор

KYIV. February 14. UNN.

Today, presiding judge Oksana Tsarevych concluded the questioning of a witness in the case regarding the organization of the murder of People's Deputy Yevhen Shcherban at the premises of the Kyiv Court of Appeal. This was

reported by the press service of the Prosecutor's Office.

According to Oleh Pushkar, Deputy Head of the Main Department for Investigation of Particularly Important Cases of the Prosecutor General's Office, the witness consistently outlined all the circumstances of the case known to him.

“He answered all questions from both prosecutors and defense attorneys. The session lasted as long as the parties involved in the process had questions,” he said.

The prosecutor noted that during the questioning, representatives of the suspect's defense asked many questions that were irrelevant to the merits of the case.

“The only thing I want to point out, and the journalists present observed this, is that the defense asked many of its questions not on the merits of the case. Also, the lawyers tried to pressure the witness by duplicating the same questions that the witness had already answered. However, they asked them several times from different angles. It gives the impression that they were trying to confuse the witness by running him in circles. And the judge did not react to this even once,” he said.

Oleh Pushkar noted that he regards this as a defense tactic.

“Although this does not change the situation, as the witness explained how he knew about the events that took place in 1996, what role the suspect played in them, and clearly identified Yu. Tymoshenko as the person responsible for paying for the organization of the contract killing of People's Deputy Ye. Shcherban. He also reported on the motives for this murder, which consisted of a business conflict,” the prosecutor emphasized.

According to him, the publicity of these procedural actions plays a significant role in the witness questioning process.

“Furthermore, I think that publicity plays a significant role in this process. Thanks to this, too many witnesses are hearing the story of the murder organization, and they are unlikely to be interested, unlike the lawyers, in the color of the heels Yu. Tymoshenko was wearing when she stayed at the 'Natsional' hotel, where the meeting with the perpetrators of the murder actually took place,” said Oleh Pushkar.

The questioning of another witness in this case is scheduled for tomorrow, February 15, 2013.