Tymoshenko's defense team fears repeated petitions in gas case may be dismissed

Serhiy Vlasenko, the head of the defense team of former Premier of Ukraine and leader of the Batkivschyna party Yulia Tymoshenko, fears that a motion to change the preventive measure for their client and a motion to hold a judicial inquiry into the criminal case on the gas supply contracts will be rejected during the consideration of the appeal.

During the hearing of Tymoshenko's appeal on December 13 the defense team will again file a petition to remove the reporting judge of the preliminary hearings, Olena Sitailo, Vlasenko said at a press conference on Friday.

"The judge has already said enough to be disqualified ten times. So, we will start with this... then once again raise the issue of the judicial investigation, changing the preventive measures but this time before three judges. However, I fear that these motions will be dismissed," he said.

The hearing of the appeal per se will be conducted by a panel made up of three judges and the reporting judge, Sitailo. The defense lawyer suggested that the panel of judges would not satisfy these petitions, since they dismissed similar ones during the preliminary hearing on December 1.