The politician said on Monday he did not trust the court.
Initially, Uspaskich said he had to prepare for the testimony, saying the Lithuanian language was not his mother tongue and he was afraid of making a mistake. After a brief consult with his lawyer, the MP said the proceedings were "held to order."
"I see that the proceedings are held to order, any pleas are being rejected, there is no response to our rights and the possibility to prepare for testifying," Uspaskich told the court.
The Labor Party is charged with failing to include more than 24 million litas (EUR 6.9m) of income and 23 million litas of spending into its books between 2004 and 2006.
Uspaskich, First Parliamentary Vice-Speaker Vytautas Gapšys, and MP Vitalija Vonžutaitė stand charges of organizing the fraud while holding top positions in the Labor Party's Vilnius bureau in 2004-2006. In addition to the three parliamentarians, charges have been brought against the party as a legal entity and its former financial officer Marina Liutkevičienė.
The Labor Party's members flatly reject the accusations, saying the case is politically motivated.
The case reached court on April 14, 2008.
"I was ready to testify"
After the hearing, Uspaskich said he was ready to testify on Monday, but was not given one day he needed to edit his testimony.
The politician told journalists he needed to edit his testimony after the court on Monday refused to satisfy his and other co-defendants' requests regarding witness examination. The court ruled that members of the party presidium had already been examined and examination of representatives of the party's other governing bodies were not necessary. The court believes that no additional expert examinations are needed as all previous examinations gave answers to all necessary questions.
"The times of Stalin and dictatorship. The statute of limitations ends in 2018. And they are making fuss about a few days. In fact, so many requests that I need to include into my testimony have been rejected and they did not give me a single day to get prepared after rejected requests. I don't know, it seems that there was nothing of this sort during the Soviet times. It's your and their will. Because courts execute will, and you execute other. Do you, journalists, want to defend such legal nihilism? Be my guest," Uspaskich told journalists after Monday's court hearing.
