The court hearing in the case of former State Fiscal Service head Roman Nasirov’s alleged involvement in Oleksandr Onyshchenko’s “gas scheme” has entered its final stage — the defendants’ final statements.

The first to speak was Volodymyr Novikov, former SFS department head, who, according to the investigation, was Nasirov’s accomplice. The court noted that Novikov’s statement largely repeated arguments from the debates and asked him not to reiterate previously stated points.

Meanwhile, Nasirov’s defense lawyer left the courtroom. Although Nasirov initially did not object to proceeding in his lawyer’s absence, once it was his turn to deliver the final statement, he began stalling the process, claiming he could not continue without legal counsel.

Nevertheless, Nasirov eventually began delivering his statement, telling the court that his speech would last about eight hours.