Ukraine's Supreme Court has called off appeal to file a suit against head of state

Ukraine's Supreme Court has called off an appeal to file a suit against Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma initiated by the Prosecutor General's Office.

The Court ruled to return the case to the Court of Appeal in Kiev for complying with the procedure of the Criminal Law, spokeswoman for Ukraine's Supreme Court Liana Shlyaposhnikova said.

The ruling of the Supreme Court was made in accordance with the request of the Popular Deputy Yulia Timoshenko, who participated in the hearings.

The leader of the opposition said that the Prosecutor General's Office had no right to introduce the appeal in court. The deputy added that the case must be returned to the Court of Appeals for complying with the procedure of the Criminal Law. In particular, the Court should have informed the interested parties about the initiated appeal, introduced them to the text and communicated to them the scheduled date of court hearings. The deputy stressed that the Court failed to do that. The Supreme Court agreed with Yulia Timoshenko.

The charges against the Ukrainian President, Leonid Kuchma were brought on October 15 by the judge of the Kiev Court of Appeal, Yury Vasilenko.