Ukraine Court Declines to Hear Appeal Against Tymoshenko Arrest
A Ukrainian court declined to hear former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s appeal challenging her arrest as her lawyer said the defense team will take the case to the Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights.
Kiev Court of Appeals Judge Olha Yefimova ruled the detention isn’t subject to an appeal because preventive measures can’t be challenged under criminal law, Tymoshenko’s spokeswoman Natalia Lysova said by phone.
The former premier was arrested a week ago after the District Court in Kiev ruled she had violated court procedure and sought to obstruct a trial in which prosecutors allege she abused her power and agreed to pay too much to buy Russian natural gas in 2009. The case, which sparked local protests and criticism from the U.S. and the European Union, started in June.
“No doubt it’s an absurd decision,” Tymoshenko’s lawyer Yuriy Sukhov said in a statement on her official website. “Obviously we will appeal to the Supreme Court, though the result will probably be the same because there’s no justice in Ukraine.” The defense team also plans an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, he said.
Tymoshenko, 50, says President Viktor Yanukovych devised the case to silence his opposition before elections next year. The two leaders have been at odds since 2004, when she helped lead the Orange Revolution that overturned Yanukovych’s victory in the presidential ballot.
Tymoshenko lost to Yanukovych in last year’s February presidential vote. She was ordered not to leave Ukraine in December during a separate investigation into the sale of emissions permits to Japan in 2009.
To contact the reporter on this story: Daryna Krasnolutska in Kiev at dkrasnolutsk@bloomberg.net;
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Balazs Penz at bpenz@bloomberg.net
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