Kiev's Podolsky court will hold its next hearing on the case of RIA Novosti Ukraine portal head Kirill Vyshinsky on April 15, the jailed journalist's lawyer Andriy Domansky told Sputnik
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th April, 2019) Kiev's Podolsky court will hold its next hearing on the case of RIA Novosti Ukraine portal head Kirill Vyshinsky on April 15, the jailed journalist's lawyer Andriy Domansky told Sputnik.On Thursday, the court started examining the merits of the case. The prosecutors have started reading out the 80-page indictment.
"A break until April 15. [The session would be ] at 4:15 p.m [13:15 GMT]," Domansky said.
At the next session, the prosecutor will continue reading the indictment, according to the lawyer.
Vyshinsky was arrested in Ukraine in May 2018 and charged with supporting the breakaway eastern provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk as well as high treason. Ukrainian prosecutors this year raided Domansky's office and home in Kiev, in what the lawyer said was an act of intimidation. In March, the court extended Vyshinsky's arrest until May 24 and refused to return the case to the prosecution.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Vyshinsky's arrest was politically motivated. The Russian Foreign Ministry protested his detention, urging the Ukrainian authorities to stop the crackdown on media. Harlem Desir, the representative on freedom of the media at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), called for the journalist's release.
Moreover, about 50 public figures from Latin America and the United States signed an open letter to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko calling on him to release Vyshinsky.
