KIEV – Former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko and her lawyers will boycott appeal court hearings looking into her conviction on charges of abuse of office, they said yesterday, calling the trial a farce.
Tymoshenko, the fiercest opponent of President Viktor Yanukovich, was sentenced to seven years in prison in October in a trial condemned by the West as politically motivated. It has also jeopardised Ukraine’s plans for closer ties with Europe.
She was found guilty of overstepping her powers in forcing through a 2009 gas deal with Russia and has filed an appeal, dismissing the trial as part of Mr Yanukovich’s campaign to get rid of a rival.
However, yesterday Tymoshenko and her lawyers accused the appeals court of being biased and said there was no hope for justice in local courts.
“I have decided to refuse to take part in this shameful process and not to appeal the decisions of the two courts,” she said in a statement. “Seeking truth and justice in Ukrainian courts is an absolutely useless task.” Tymoshenko has not attended any appeal hearings, due to back pain.
In a separate statement, her lawyer, Serhiy Vlasenko, said her defence team would also boycott the hearings. “These are not court hearings. This is a farce with clowns dressed in judge robes and clowns wearing prosecutors’ shoulder straps and it makes no sense to take part in this farce,” he said.
It was not clear whether the hearings would proceed in the absence of Tymoshenko and her team.
Mr Vlasenko had earlier said Tymoshenko’s hopes lay with the European Court for Human Rights, which says it will fast-track her case “in view of the serious and sensitive nature of the allegations raised”. – (Reuters)