KIEV – Former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko used a pre-trial hearing yesterday to allege that President Viktor Yanukovich was behind a corrupt court action that was certain to convict her of abuse of power.
The case involving Ms Tymoshenko, twice prime minister and now in opposition, has raised concerns among western governments over Mr Yanukovich’s commitment to democracy and the rule of law.
Hemmed in by TV cameramen and journalists in the tiny Kiev courtroom, the 50-year-old Ms Tymoshenko called on all her oratorical skills as she denounced the hearing as an arranged “farce” and told the judge he was a Yanukovich “puppet”.
“At such an important moment for Ukraine, I do not want in that chair a judge like you. I am throwing down this objection to you because I consider you a puppet of the presidential administration,” she told judge Rodion Kyreyev.
Judge Kyreyev at times appeared harassed by the barrage from Ms Tymoshenko, who has been charged over a 2009 gas supply agreement with Russia when she was prime minister. He twice overruled Ms Tymoshenko’s calls for him to be replaced by another judge. However, it was Mr Yanukovich, who defeated her in a bitter fight for the presidency in February 2010, who was her main target.
Outside the court she told reporters: “This mock trial was organised and served up by Viktor Yanukovich. Nobody has any doubts that the courts and the state prosecution are in private hands and there will be no justice.” The hearing was adjourned until today.
Though western governments have not come down publicly on her side, diplomats say visiting EU politicians have told the Yanukovich leadership that they are concerned over the possible use of “selective justice” in Ukraine.
With her trademark peasant-style hair braid and combative manner, Ms Tymoshenko is still popular across Ukraine and she brought several hundred supporters out in central Kiev yesterday.
The prosecution alleges that without consulting her government, Ms Tymoshenko forced the then head of the Naftogaz company to sign the gas deal with Russia’s Gazprom. Ms Tymoshenko became known as the “gas princess” in the late 1990s as owner of a company which bought and sold Russian gas. – (Reuters)