Protests mount as ex-Ukraine PM kept in custody
Source: Agencies |
August 9, 2011, Tuesday
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A JUDGE yesterday rejected requests by former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's lawyers to free her from police detention during her trial on a charge of abuse of office.
Since the trial began at the end of June, Tymoshenko has refused to cooperate with judge Rodion Kireyev and denounced him as a "puppet" of President Viktor Yanukovich, her political opponent. She was placed in police detention on Friday for contempt of court.
Kireyev handed down his ruling as thousands of Tymoshenko's supporters gathered outside the court in Kiev calling for her release.
Since losing narrowly to Yanukovich in a presidential election in February last year, 50-year-old Tymoshenko has failed to rally other opposition leaders around her. But with her trademark peasant hair braid and combative style, she remains the most powerful opposition figure in the Ukraine.
Her supporters and parliamentary allies have set up a tent camp near the court to show solidarity with her.
To avoid inflaming her supporters, police brought Tymoshenko to the Kiev court in an armored police van early yesterday, about four hours before the hearing began.
Hundreds of red-bereted special forces waited in vans in streets nearby but made no move to break up the pro-Tymoshenko rally near the court.
She had lost none of her fire for spending a weekend in prison. "You know that I am not guilty of anything. I will not stand up for you," she told the judge when told to rise in court.
Her supporters reacted sharply to news that she would continue to be held in police custody.
"We have exhausted all political mechanisms. From now on, our future action will be carried out on the square," said Tymoshenko bloc deputy Serhiy Sobolev, meaning street protests would continue.
Serhiy Vlashenko, another parliamentary ally, said: "It does not matter what the judge decides. We will keep on pressing for her release, as many times as it takes."
The abuse-of-office charge relates to the signing of a gas supply contract with Russia in 2009 while she was prime minister. She denies charges that she coerced state energy company Naftogaz into agreeing to a deal with Russia's Gazprom that was ultimately against the national interest.
Since the trial began at the end of June, Tymoshenko has refused to cooperate with judge Rodion Kireyev and denounced him as a "puppet" of President Viktor Yanukovich, her political opponent. She was placed in police detention on Friday for contempt of court.
Kireyev handed down his ruling as thousands of Tymoshenko's supporters gathered outside the court in Kiev calling for her release.
Since losing narrowly to Yanukovich in a presidential election in February last year, 50-year-old Tymoshenko has failed to rally other opposition leaders around her. But with her trademark peasant hair braid and combative style, she remains the most powerful opposition figure in the Ukraine.
Her supporters and parliamentary allies have set up a tent camp near the court to show solidarity with her.
To avoid inflaming her supporters, police brought Tymoshenko to the Kiev court in an armored police van early yesterday, about four hours before the hearing began.
Hundreds of red-bereted special forces waited in vans in streets nearby but made no move to break up the pro-Tymoshenko rally near the court.
She had lost none of her fire for spending a weekend in prison. "You know that I am not guilty of anything. I will not stand up for you," she told the judge when told to rise in court.
Her supporters reacted sharply to news that she would continue to be held in police custody.
"We have exhausted all political mechanisms. From now on, our future action will be carried out on the square," said Tymoshenko bloc deputy Serhiy Sobolev, meaning street protests would continue.
Serhiy Vlashenko, another parliamentary ally, said: "It does not matter what the judge decides. We will keep on pressing for her release, as many times as it takes."
The abuse-of-office charge relates to the signing of a gas supply contract with Russia in 2009 while she was prime minister. She denies charges that she coerced state energy company Naftogaz into agreeing to a deal with Russia's Gazprom that was ultimately against the national interest.
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