Tymoshenko supporters protest outside Ukrainian jail
KHARKIV, Ukraine — More than one hundred supporters of Ukraine’s jailed former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko protested Thursday outside the prison where she is being held, calling for her to be freed.
The demonstrators, some of whom travelled to the Kharkiv region about 480 kilometres (298 miles) east from the capital Kyiv, waved flags and held up portraits of the opposition leader, an AFP journalist witnessed.
“Freedom for Yulia!”, chanted the group under the watch of about 30 police officers deployed to stop protestors from approaching the prison where Tymoshenko was transferred on December 30 after her appeal was rejected.
Meanwhile, Tymoshenko’s daughter was able to meet her for the first time since the politician’s arrival at the detention centre, her spokespeople told AFP.
Tymoshenko’s defence team has filed an appeal against her transfer to Kharkiv, according to one of the lawyers Sergy Vlassenko.
The leader of the 2004 Orange Revolution was sentenced in October to seven years in prison for abuse of power during her time in office.
The case came up just months after she lost a close election to President Viktor Yanukovych.
Tymoshenko’s conviction was followed almost immediately by charges of financial crimes, allegedly committed while she was head of the state power company in the 1990s, which could keep her in prison even if the original case against her is overturned.
She has stressed her innocence and accused Yanukovych of seeking to embarrass his key rival.
The Tymoshenko affair has sparked tensions between Kyiv and the European Union which suspects that the probes against the opposition leader are politically motivated.