Obolonsky District Court of Kyiv has decided to replace public defender of Viktor Yanukovych, Maksym Gerasko, in criminal proceedings on charges of Ukraine's ex-president in high treason.

The corresponding decision was taken by the court at a meeting on Wednesday, an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent reported.

According to the court's decision, the new public defender must be immediately appointed to Yanukovych and arrive at the court session on October 26.

The court decision says that Herasko showed "unprofessionalism and lack of sufficient qualifications" to provide legal assistance in this criminal proceeding, which is extremely difficult.

"Beginning from August 18, the court gave the defender Herasko all the opportunities to provide qualified legal assistance to the accused Yanukovych, but, as of October 25, defender Herasko continued to deny the possibility of defending Viktor Yanukovych for far-fetched reasons," presiding judge Vladyslav Deviatko said.

According to him, the defender's refusal to exercise defense for reasons of his own workload or the inability to communicate with the defendant is unacceptable.

"The participation of defender Herasko in the investigation of evidence in the trial actually narrowed down to the filing motions to call the police to the court to assess the actions of judges, announcing a lunch break in the meeting that began after 14:00, the prosecutor's challenge," he said.

Deviatko said that the court is obliged to ensure the right to qualified legal assistance for the accused, and by its decision it defends the rights of the accused Viktor Yanukovych, since the lawyer Herasko actually retired from performing his duties.