PRAGUE (AP) — A former economics minister in the Ukraine who has been charged with abuse of office was released from detention in the Czech Republic on Friday after he was granted asylum .
Czech prison service spokesman Robert Kacer said a state prosecutor ordered Bohdan Danylyshyn’s release, a day after he was granted political asylum.
Danylyshyn was detained in Prague in October on an international arrest warrant issued by Ukraine
Ukraine Foreign Ministry Spokesman Oleh Voloshyn said Czech officials had yet to officially notify Kyiv of the decision, but the ruling made no sense.
"(Danylyshyn) has never been engaged in politics in his life, so to talk even hypothetically about his political persecution is meaningless," Voloshyn was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.
"Danylyshyn only started talking about being an alleged political refugee when he was arrested," he added. Voloshyn could not be reached for comment Friday.
The Czech Interior Ministry, which granted asylum to Danylyshyn, declined to explain its decision.
Danylyshyn is wanted in the Ukraine for allegedly causing 13.9 million hryvna ($1.77 million; euro1.29 million) in damage to the state by failing to hire a cheaper contractor for Kyiv’s international airport.
After his release, Danylyshyn said he and his lawyers considered the charges "politically motivated."
"There’s no ground for the charges," he told the Czech public television’s news CT24 channel. "What I did was in line with Ukraine’s law."
Danylyshyn is one of several allies of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko who have been investigated or detained since her rival, President Viktor Yanukovych, came to power last year.
Tymoshenko herself stands accused of using money from the sale of carbon credits under the Kyoto protocol to pay pensions during a severe recession while serving as prime minister. She has denied the charges and called them a "witch hunt of the opposition."
Yanukovych’s office declined to comment Friday.
Martin Larys, an analyst at the Association for International Affairs, a Prague think tank, said the current political situation in Ukraine could have influenced the Czech Interior Ministry.
He added he was confident European countries are concerned about recent developments in the country.
