Obolonsky District Court of Kyiv has postponed to October 19 a meeting on the treason case of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych because the public defender of ex-president Maksym Gerasko will return from a business trip from the Russian Federation to meet with the defendant only on October 13.

At a meeting on Wednesday, presiding judge Vladyslav Deviatko read out the motion of Viktor Yanukovych's defender, in which Gerasko said that he would return to Ukraine from the Russian Federation on October 13, an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent reported.

Prosecutor of the main Military Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine Maksym Krym said that the participation of a public defender in the meeting is mandatory, so it must be postponed. At the same time, he said that one week should have been enough for Gerasko for a business trip to the Russian Federation and meeting with the accused Viktor Yanukovych. The representative of the prosecutor's office assessed the situation as an abuse of the right to defense.

After that, the court decided to postpone the meeting at 15:00 on October 19.

As reported, on October 5 Obolonsky District Court of Kyiv postponed the hearing on the high treason case of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych to October 11 in connection with the trip of the public defender of ex-president Maxim Gerasko to the Russian Federation to meet with his client and agree on a legal position with him.