“I want to remind the court, and everybody present here that they have been trying to arrest me since the end of October last year. At first we saw such attempts in Novozavodskyy District Court of Chernihiv, and then in Pechersk District Court of Kyiv, finally the prosecutors have managed to do it in Dniprovsk District Court of Kyiv. I want to say that the country, perhaps, has never seen such rapidity and persistence.
Yesterday Mr. Kutsenko, who is the press officer of the General Prosecutor’s Office, told the public that I am the organizer of a criminal group. And that my defence, which turned out to be also involved in an organized criminal group, is trying to delay consideration of the case.
Today I am the leader of one of the strongest and most powerful parties in Ukraine – “Ukrainian Patriots Association – UKROP”. We do not want the people to be misinformed. Neither I nor my defenders – we do not want anyone to think that we are trying to flee from justice. We do not want anyone to make such statements that we are trying to delay consideration of the case.
They tried to lock me up in prison very quickly, and now they agree to adjourn the case. I support my lawyers’ statement on hearing on the merits. Since I do not consider myself as a person who has committed any crime, and I do not think that I as a leader of the party “Ukrainian Patriots Association – UKROP” should be kept in prison, so that I could not perform professional party political activity in Ukraine. That is why I stress that we are ready for hearing on the merits.
