Poroshenko returns to Kyiv, goes to court

Former president Petro Poroshenko returned to Ukraine
on Jan. 17 to face charges of treason and aiding and abetting a terrorist
organization, pravda.com.ua reports. Events are developing rapidly, with
Poroshenko’s lawyer Ihor Holovan requesting that the court be adjourned so that
he can receive formal documents regarding the charges. Holovan stated at the
arraignment hearing that no documents had been provided by the government that
formally charged Poroshenko. “Therefore, there is no document or other evidence
that would confirm the suspicion of Poroshenko. We haven’t seen it, anyway.”

James Hydzik: If there
are no formal charges, this will be a major blow to the Zelensky
administration’s credibility. However, the media circus around this may seem to
have tarred Poroshenko enough to make it worth Zelensky’s while when the
election cycle starts in a couple of years. Whether there are such charges or
not, if Poroshenko’s team has acted with due measure, today’s fiasco is at the
very least an indicator of the need to bolster the government’s need to follow
procedures. In this light, it mirrors the need for the government’s IT admins
to follow up on known software vulnerabilities, which we mentioned today.