Donetsk, Mar 27 - DAN. The Ukrainian People’s Tribunal for investigating war crimes committed by Petr Poroshenko’s regime against Ukrainian citizens has resumed the hearing in Donetsk on the second day of its operation.
Presiding judge Elena Shishkina, judges Lyubov Batyashova and Tatyana Kravchenko, prosecutor Sergey Kozhemyakin, lawyer for the defence Elena Gridina and a panel of jurors are taking part in the UPT session.
Juror Vladimir Savchenko said that the UPT would hear the cases of two Lugansk region victims of shelling by Ukrainian forces in 2014. Experts and eye-witnesses are expected to make statements.
At the first UPT session in Donetsk on March 26, charges were brought against eight Poroshenko regime officials including the Ukrainian president (Petr Poroshenko) himself, Interior Minister Arsen Avkov, National Security and Defence Council Secretary Alexander Turchinov, Prime Minister Vladimir Groisman, Chief of the General Staff Viktor Muzhenko, Defence Minister Stepan Poltorak, parliament speaker Andrey Parubiy and former Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk.
Facts of the use of Ukrainian armed forces against civilians were presented in the course of the first hearing. The Tribunal reviewed evidence against the Poroshenko regime presented by residents of Donetsk, Makeyevka, Kirovskoye and Lugansk.
The Initiative Group of the People’s Tribunal for crimes committed by Poroshenko and his clique against Ukrainian citizens held a constitutive meeting in Donetsk on March 20. It approved the Tribunal’s Charter and staff members, and announced the launching of the official website.
On March 15, the Initiative Group of Ukrainian citizens living in Donetsk and Lugansk announced the establishment of the People’s Tribunal for the Poroshenko regime’s war crimes. The cases will be reviewed while taking into account the Ukrainian legislation and norms of international law.*jk