You're reading: Bloomberg: Ukraine prosecutors say Tymoshenko may face murder charge

Ukrainian prosecutors said jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko may face life imprisonment for murder, escalating a case that’s driven a wedge between the former Soviet republic and the European Union.

Tymoshenko, already serving a seven-year sentence, conspired with Pavlo Lazarenko, another former premier, to organize the 1996 assassination of lawmaker and businessman Evhen Shcherban, Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka said in remarks broadcast today by TVI. Serhiy Vlasenko, a lawyer for Tymoshenko, said by phone that the accusation was “absurd.”

“Documents collected during pre-trial investigations show Tymoshenko and Lazarenko ordered the murder,” Pshonka said. “Investigators from the prosecutor general’s office visited Tymoshenko today to notify her.” 

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