You're reading: Tymoshenko says she won’t leave Ukraine despite ‘trial farce’ and surveillance

Former Ukrainian Prime Minister and Batkivschyna Party leader Yulia Tymoshenko has said that she is under surveillance around the clock, but said such measures will not force her to flee abroad.

"Specially equipped vehicles are watching me 24 hours a day. We counted about 20 vehicles that are constantly watching where I stay, every minute. In addition, they are tapping 17 phones – my phones, those of my loved ones, and my colleagues," she told reporters before entering the building of the Pechersky District Court in Kyiv on Monday.

Tymoshenko said that this was a sign of "the creation of a police state in Ukraine." She said that she did not intend to go abroad.

"I want to tell Mr. [Ukrainian President Viktor] Yanukovych and Mr. [Security Service of Ukraine Chief Valeriy] Khoroshkovsky that their dreams that I will go abroad because of some imaginary fear are just empty dreams. I won’t leave my home country, because I do know that this is a farce, rather than a trial," Tymoshenko said.