MOSCOW, August 17 (RAPSI) – The Obolonsky District Court of Kiev has granted a request of Vitaly Meshechek to release him from the duty of representing interests of Ukraine’s ex-president Viktor Yanukovych charged with treason.

Center for free legal assistance provision is expected to assign a new lawyer to represent Yanukovych until September 6.

On July 5, Yanukovych told Russian journalists that he refused to take part in the trial. According to Yanukovych, he does not want to participate in a trial with a predetermined outcome adding that “lawyers are powerless in a country of annihilated justice”. He also recalled his defense team leading to Meshechek being assigned as a lawyer.

In December, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Yury Lutsenko read charges against Yanukovych in a court through videoconference link. According to Lutsenko, Yanukovych, who was involved in violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, is held responsible for a 1.8-trillion-hryvnia (about $70 billion) damage caused to the country. Shortly after, the Pechersky District Court in Kiev issued an arrest warrant for Yanukovych in absentia.

The Ukrainian prosecutors accuse the former president of using fire arms against protesters in Kiev in late 2013 and early 2014.