UKRAINIAN PROSECUTORS have charged former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko with misuse of state funds, in what she called a politically motivated attack by long-time foe president Viktor Yanukovich.
Ms Tymoshenko, who came to power alongside Viktor Yushchenko in the 2004 Orange Revolution that blocked Mr Yanukovich from office, is accused of illegally using money from the sale of carbon emission credits to pay pensions when cash was short during the economic crisis.
“This all really looks absurd. This is the way that the president of Ukraine tries to deal with his main rival,” said Ms Tymoshenko, who narrowly lost a February election to Mr Yanukovich but is still the most popular pro-western politician in the country.
“I paid people’s pensions, but under Ukrainian law that’s not a crime,” said Ms Tymoshenko (50), who has seen several allies come under legal pressure from prosecutors loyal to Mr Yanukovich.
If convicted, she could face up to 10 years in prison followed by a three-year ban from politics.
Any such outcome would inflame tensions between largely Russian-speaking, pro-Yanukovich eastern regions of Ukraine, and the western provinces that traditionally back Ms Tymoshenko and favour ties with the EU over links to the Kremlin.
When the investigation into Ms Tymoshenko was made public last week, it sparked a massive brawl in parliament, with her allies initially seizing the chamber before Mr Yanukovich’s supporters broke open doors and burst in, leading to fights that saw several MPs sent to hospital.
“I am not afraid of anything,” Ms Tymoshenko said, after being ordered not to leave the country.
“I will never leave, hide in hospital or go abroad, like Yanukovich and his supporters did in 2005, when they scattered all across the world. I will remain in Ukraine and show up each time I am called in for questioning.”
