A Ukrainian court has sentenced the former head of state Viktor Yanukovych in absentia on charges of “treason” to 13 years in prison. This is a judge said on Thursday in the capital, Kiev.

The judge saw it proven that the local media have reported 68-Year-old the annexation of the Peninsula have Crimea favored by Russia on Thursday. The prosecution had demanded 15 years.

“There is no doubt that the court has been working under the pressure of the current government,” said one of the lawyers of Yanukovych after the verdict. This is a PR campaign before the presidential elections on October 31. March and the court a parody. Yanukovych should be condemned at any cost. He announced to appeal.

Yanukovych had ruled the Ukraine from 2010 until his ouster after Pro-Western protests in February 2014. The process was conducted in the absence of the defendant since may of 2017. Yanukovych took part via video conference from his Russian exile.

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interviewed More than 50 high-level witnesses, including the current head of state, Petro Poroshenko, Ex-Prime Minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk. The judgment is not yet final. It is the first proceedings against a former head of state in Ukraine. (dpa, AFP)