KIEV – Former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko suffered a fresh setback in her trial on a charge of abuse of power when a higher court refused to hear her appeal against police detention yesterday.
The charismatic Tymoshenko narrowly lost to President Viktor Yanukovich in an election for president in February 2010 and has been at daggers drawn with him since.
She was sent for trial at the end of June on a charge of abuse of power over a gas deal signed with Russia in 2009 when she was prime minister, which the Yanukovich leadership says was against the national interest and left the country saddled with high prices for Russian gas.
She denies this and says her trial is part of a political vendetta by Yanukovich aimed at neutralising her as a force in politics ahead of a 2012 parliamentary election.