You're reading: Tymoshenko denounces ‘lynch’ trial

Ukraine's former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko on Thursday defiantly told a Kiev court trying her for abuse of office that she was the victim of a "lynching trial" that had shamed the country.


In a fiery, four-hour speech that was part legal defence, part political tirade, the 50-year-old opposition leader attacked the leadership of President Viktor Yanukovich, her arch-rival and nemesis.

"I will never under any circumstances appeal (to Yanukovich) for a pardon because that would be recognition of the presence of a dictatorship in our country," she added.

"We must get rid of these authorities and do it quickly," she said.

Summing up her defence at the end of a trial in which the prosecutor called for a seven-year jail sentence to be passed on her, Tymoshenko said: "You should have already brought in an acquittal sentence and ended this humiliation of Ukraine. But the show goes on."

Standing up after weeks of remaining seated in defiance of the judge, Tymoshenko turned to her supporters in the courtroom and said: "This has been a classic lynching trial by a group of people who were given the task of sorting out a mess."

Tymoshenko, 50, is charged with abuse of office linked with a gas deal signed with Russia in January 2009 which the Yanukovich leadership says saddled Ukraine with an exorbitant price for gas.

She denies this, and says she is the victim of a vendetta by Yanukovich who beat her narrowly in a presidential election in February 2010.

The United States and the European Union say the trial is politically motivated. They have urged Yanukovich to find a way to end the case against her.

The Yanukovich leadership says Tymoshenko’s action in pressuring the state energy firm Naftotgaz into signing an agreement with the Russian gas giant Gazprom in 2009 put national interest in danger.

Referring to the negotiations with the Russians, Tymoshenko said: "I acted legally, effectively, in a correct manner of state … If the circumstances were the same today, I would act in the same way.

Tymoshenko’s courtroom rhetoric was reminiscent of her fiery speeches that brought tens of thousands of people out on the streets in Ukraine‘s Orange Revolution protests in 2004-5, which ultimately doomed Yanukovich’s first bid for the presidency.

PUBLIC OPINION DIVIDED

The trial has polarised public opinion in the ex-Soviet republic and led to street demonstrations against Yanukovich.

Tymoshenko, a stylish dresser known for wearing her trademark peasant-style hairbraid, is idolised by many older voters, particularly women, in central and eastern Ukraine.

But although she is a powerful orator and a shrewd political operator, she can be abrasive and is regarded as a divisive figure even by many other opposition figures.

All the same, many commentators say the trial has turned into a public relations disaster for Yanukovich, drawing criticism from the West and resurrecting Tymoshenko as a political force.

The EU, with which Ukraine is hoping to sign an association agreement and create a free trade zone, has warned Yanukovich that these deals will be in jeopardy if Tymoshenko is jailed.

Yanukovich himself will meet EU officials on Friday at an ‘Eastern partnership’ summit in neighbouring Poland.

Hundreds of Tymoshenko supporters, with riot police stationed nearby, have been camped outside the courtroom throughout the summer in solidarity with her.

They erupted into chants of "Yulia! Yulia!" as she was driven from the courtroom back to her police cell on Thursday night after her marathon speech.

The court was to reconvene on Friday when Tymoshenko was to continue speaking.

On the eve of the trial resuming last Tuesday, Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said Russia had finally agreed to review the 2009 gas contract which is the basis of the prosecution’s case against her. Gazprom says talks are still continuing.

The EU says the Yanukovich leadership has responded favourably to a suggestion that it reclassify the charge against her so as to allow her to go free.

But his administration comprises hardliners who want to see Tymoshenko extinguished as a political force and there is no sign yet of any draft law to "decriminalise" the charge against Tymoshenko. (For a link to a Factbox on the chequered career of Yulia Tymoshenko click on ) (Writing By Richard Balmforth; Editing by Karolina Tagaris)