Illia Novikov, legal counsel for Ukrainian lawmaker and European Solidarity party leader Petro Poroshenko, said that a panel of judges of the Administrative Cassation Court within the Supreme Court had refused to overturn the sanctions imposed on his client despite what he described as clear evidence of document falsification.
According to Novikov, the ruling was supported by three of the five judges on the panel, while Presiding Judge Radyshevska and Judge Smokovych issued dissenting opinions, disagreeing with the majority, the attorney wrote on his Facebook page on Sunday.
Novikov claimed that the documents on the basis of which Poroshenko was included in the sanctions decree had been prepared hastily and contained numerous errors, while some of the materials had been backdated.
The attorney also argued that the sanctions effectively prevent political opponents from participating in elections.
"The freezing of bank accounts and the prohibition of legal transactions as a sanctions measure make it impossible to register as a candidate because it is impossible to submit all of the documents required by law to the Central Election Commission. As a result, the incumbent president can use sanctions to remove any of his political rivals from an election — Poroshenko has already been removed," he said.
Novikov emphasized that the issuance of two dissenting opinions in the case was unprecedented.
He also said that an appeal had already been filed with the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court, where, in his view, the issues of alleged document falsification and the impact of sanctions on democratic procedures would be among the central issues under consideration.
