Kyiv Court of Appeal has confirmed the legality of the ruling to arrest former President Viktor Yanukovych in absentia in connection with the seizure of state power.

The court issued the corresponding ruling on Thursday, thus refusing to satisfy the appeal of lawyers against the decision of Pechersky District Court of Kyiv dated May 4, 2020 on choosing a preventive measure for Yanukovych in the form of arrest in absentia in the case on amendments to the Constitution with the aim of seizing power.

"The decision [...] that imposes a pretrial restraint for Yanukovych [...] to leave unchanged, the appeal is not sustained," the court said in its ruling.

The court announced the operative part of the ruling, the full text will be made public on March 30.

The defense in its complaint, in particular, appealed to procedural violations by the investigation and the lack of proper documents on the international wanted list of Yanukovych. During the trial, the prosecution said that there were no procedural violations and explained its position on the search: "In this proceeding [...] Yanukovych is registered as a wanted person [...] There is an order from the SBU, given to investigators, about the search [...]. There are letters confirming the international search."

The Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) published information about this court ruling on its website, noting that "at present, the prosecution has the right to initiate extradition proceedings against the suspect and apply to the court for permission to conduct a special pretrial investigation (in absentia)."