Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office has said permission given by the court to conduct a special pretrial investigation of suspicions that disgraced ex-President Viktor Yanukovych committed crimes leading to the deaths of anti-government protesters in Kyiv from February 18 to February 20, 2014 was correct and made without any legal violations.

PGO representative Denys Ivanov during a briefing in Kyiv on Monday said Yanukovych limited the authority of his defense attorneys from the Aver Lex law firm.

According to Ivanov, defense lawyers failed to appear at hearings 15 times.

"From December 11, 2017 through February 7, 2018 Yanukovych's lawyers missed 15 court hearings…," he said, adding that information communicated by Yanukovych's defense lawyers is inaccurate. According to Ivanov, hearings on February 7, 2018 were attended by Yanukoyvh's state appointed lawyer.

As earlier reported, on February 7, 2018, PGO spokeswoman Larysa Sarhan said Kyiv's Pechersky District Court had given permission for special an in absentia investigation of Yanukovych, ex-SBU State Security Service chief Oleksandr Yakymenko and ex-First Deputy SBU chief Volodymyr Totsky in the criminal investigation into the deaths of anti-government protesters on Independence Square in Kyiv that took place from February 18 to February 20, 2014.

Sarhan said three additional ex-officials – ex-Interior Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko, former Deputy Interior Minister Viktor Ratushniak and former deputy Interior Ministry chief Petro Fedchuk (in charge of the police and public safety in Kyiv) would also be investigated.