Eugenia Carr, daughter of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, says she will do anything to protect her mother.
“I spoke at a meeting of the European People’s Party in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. This was the first time I’ve had to protect my mother. I had to do this. I felt many emotions, but I wasn’t nervous. Sitting next to her in court as her public defender, I see it all and so I have no right to remain silent," Eugenia Carr told the newspaper “Izvestia in Ukraine” during an interview.
She said that, during her meetings in Strasbourg, she informed European politicians of violations during Tymoshenko’s trial.
“I told them that the judge breaks the law and that the prosecutors are calling for a conviction even though there are documents in the case that prove my mother’s innocence,” Carr said. “We are using every change. The more we speak, the greater the hope that we will be heard.”
Carr also said her mother’s health continues to deteriorate. “The symptoms continue to develop. We don’t know what it is. My mother’s health is getting worse. Her doctor wasn’t allowed to see her, tests weren’t done, and we don’t know what can happen to her,” she said.
Tymoshenko was arrested on Aug. 5. She is charged with criminal abuse of the prime minister’s position in reaching a gas deal in 2009 with Russia, an agreement that ended a crisis but which cost the state $200 million, according to the allegations.
The charges are widely dismissed as an attempt to criminalize political decisions in order to end Tymoshenko’s political career.
She remains President Viktor Yanukovych’s top political rival, despite losing the 2010 presidential election to him by 3.5 percentage points.
Kyiv’s Pechersky District Court is set to reach a verdict in the Tymoshenko case as early as Oct. 11.
