Appeals court postpones review of Poroshenko case

The Kyiv Court of Appeals moved to Feb. 11 its
consideration of the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv’s decision to release
former president Petro Poroshenko on his own cognizance. Poroshenko is accused
of state treason and the funding of terrorism regarding the import of coal from
DNR in 2015. Poroshenko stated that, “The president’s office ordered the
Pechersk court not to submit documents to the appellate court, to disrupt this
session. Because they have not yet picked up the compromising material on the
judges who have to make an illegal decision,” interfax.com.ua reported from the
courthouse on Jan. 28.

Though a crowd stood outside of the courthouse to
support Poroshenko, the former president did not call for further public action
regarding what he calls political attacks on the government’s opposition.
“We are not calling for mass protests, we are not calling for Maidans. We
will do this only when they capitulate to Putin,” the European Solidarity
leader said.”

James Hydzik: The government seems to be at a loss as to how aggressively it can
attack Poroshenko. As we reported last week, the initial attempts to tar him as a traitor seem to have only
solidified his position as head of the opposition and Zelensky’s main competitor
for the presidency in 2024. Also, since one of the principals in the coal
purchase scandal, Serhiy Kuziara, stated publicly on Jan. 26 that he had been pressured to slander Poroshenko in his statement to
investigators, the government is more likely to want to appear as light-handed
as possible in order to avoid heightening the existing alarms that this is a
politically motivated case.