The Ukrainian Supreme Court has announced the summons of President Volodymyr Zelensky following a complaint by his predecessor and rival Petro Poroshenko who accuses him of "
unlawful inaction
".
Zelensky will be summoned to a hearing on February 28, court spokeswoman Maria Chvenko told AFP.
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According to her, this is a request filed in August by the former president and relating to an interview with the head of state in which the latter accuses Poroshenko of being involved in trade with pro-Russian separatists from the east of the country. Poroshenko accuses President Zelensky of not having published the evidence for these claims and asks the court to force the head of state to make them public, according to an intermediate judicial decision in the case published in the official register.
Poroshenko, 56, head of state between 2014 and 2019 and currently a deputy, has already been cited as a suspect in several corruption investigations, prosecutions deemed political by his relatives. On Monday, authorities announced that he was now suspected of "
high treason
" for having facilitated the purchase of coal for around 48 million euros in 2014 and 2015 from Ukrainian companies located in separatist zones at war with Kiev.
The armed conflict with the separatists, of which Moscow is widely regarded as the military godfather, has claimed more than 13,000 lives since 2014 and any attempt to cooperate with the rebels is frowned upon by a large part of Ukrainians.
Defeated in the 2019 presidential election by Volodymyr Zelensky, Petro Poroshenko, who seems determined to take his revenge in the next election, said in a video Tuesday that these new lawsuits were orchestrated by his successor and "
linked to the fall in his popularity
".