The defense team of former First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Serhiy Arbuzov has said that Pechersky District Court in Kyiv has violated the law when granting a motion by the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine to hold a special pre-trial investigation with regard to their client.

"The court has grossly violated the requirements of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, first of all, because it is considered this motion in the absence of representatives of the defense team," Arbuzov's defense counsel Serhiy Kovalev said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine.

He stressed that even representatives of the Prosecutor General's Office pointed out that the participation of defense lawyers is mandatory.

"It should be noted that the defense team has not shied away from participating in the hearing, but merely insisted on the provision of their right to study the materials of the case and scheduling the next meeting in three days, as envisaged by the Criminal Procedure Code," Kovalev said.

Arbuzov's defense counsel said that the court ignored the petition. "The whole of last week, the meetings on the case were appointed several times a day, which is beyond any reasonable timeframes," he said.

Kovalev also noted that the court did not respond to the similar demand of the defense lawyers who were appointed by this very court through the Legal Aid Centre. In addition, the defense counsel pointed out that the consideration of this case per se lasted "less than a minute," after which the judges retired to the deliberation room.

"Of course, the defense team will appeal against the court ruling, including in the European Court of Human Rights, unless higher courts in Ukraine cancel this illegal ruling," Arbuzov's defense counsel said.

As reported, on February 15, MP Mustafa Nayyem of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc said that the Pechersky District Court of Kyiv granted a motion by the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine to launch a procedure of the conviction in absentia of former head of the National Bank of Ukraine, former Deputy Prime Minister Serhiy Arbuzov.