An investigator from the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine (PGO) has banned Leader of the Batkivschyna Party and former Premier of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko from traveling to Kharkiv region, saying she needs to read the materials of the criminal case against her.
In turn, the politician forecast that she would not receive permission to make a trip to Brussels on June 23.
"The investigator banned Yulia Volodymyrivna from traveling to Kharkiv region and explained that she has to read the materials of the case," Tymoshenko’s defense lawyer, BYT-Batkivschyna faction MP Serhiy Vlasenko, told reporters on Wednesday.
According to the Batkivschyna Party leader, the authorities are trying to impede her communication with people.
"They categorically don’t allow me to communicate with the regions," Tymoshenko said.
She also noted that the investigator could appoint a date when she could go to Kharkiv region for a meeting with voters.
The former premier said that she was likely to be banned from traveling to Brussels on June 23, and added that she has already applied for permission to the investigator.
"I have suspicions that under such conditions they will not let me travel [to a summit in Brussels]. They won’t because of the fear that the world would prevent the development of authoritarianism in Ukraine even more systematically and effectively," she said.
"I think they are planning not to let me go to Brussels," Tymoshenko said.
As reported, Tymoshenko said she was planning to ask the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office to allow her to go to Brussels on June 23.
"Today we will ask the Prosecutor General’s Office to allow me to travel to Brussels by invitation, for a summit of leaders of European countries on June 23, at 1400," Tymoshenko told reporters before visiting the Prosecutor General’s Office on Wednesday.
She said the European Parliament president, the European Commission president, and the leaders of European countries representing the European People’s Party would attend this summit.
"They want to see me and talk about what’s going on in Ukraine," Tymoshenko said. According to the Batkivschyna leader, at the summit, in particular, the situation with the justice and human rights in Ukraine will be considered.
Earlier, the former premier, who has been banned from traveling outside Kyiv, asked for permission to travel to Kharkiv region.
"I was invited by Kharkiv residents, and I also have invitations from all regions of Ukraine," Tymoshenko said and noted that she is planning to visit all regions of Ukraine to which she is invited by the public.
The Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office did not give permission for Tymoshenko to visit Kharkiv, saying she has once again disrupted the investigation into her cases.
A report on the ban on Tymoshenko’s traveling was posted on the PGO’s Web site but was later removed.
On May 12, Tymoshenko said she intended to ask the PGO to name dates when she could visit Kharkiv region.
