Any minute now, the trial of the former editor of the Rivne weekly "7 Days," Vasyl Herus, will move to debate. Today's court session began at 14:30; Ihor Fomin, a representative of the victim — President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko — arrived at the court. Mr. Fomin presented a power of attorney to act in Mr. Yushchenko's interests, signed by a notary — the President's legal adviser. As Mr. Fomin noted during the court hearing, he did not communicate directly with Yushchenko, and he was unable to answer the question regarding the amount of damage caused by the publication in "7 Days" of a fake program of candidate Yushchenko on the eve of the second round of the presidential election. At the same time, Mr. Fomin considers it an indisputable fact that damage was caused to his principal by this publication. The state prosecutor in the process — Khrystyna Vykhoten from the Rivne city prosecutor's office — announced a motion to amend the claims and asked the court to reclassify the charge from Article 364 part 2 to Article 364 part 1 (abuse of official position). The prosecution left the charge under Article 157 part 2 (obstruction of the exercise of electoral rights) unchanged. Even under such circumstances, the maximum punishment for Vasyl Herus could be from 3 to 5 years of imprisonment. According to Volodymyr Hurskyi, Vasyl Herus's lawyer, today's court hearing will most likely conclude. Possibly, the verdict will also be announced this evening.