ROME - A leading Ukrainian opposition politician accused by prosecutors of abuse of power, will try to remain in Italy where he is being detained rather than face justice in Ukraine, a close friend said on March 29.
Arsen Avakov, an ally of former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko – herself jailed last year on similar charges – attended a hearing at a Rome court after being detained by Italian authorities earlier this week.
The request to extradite Avakov follows a string of cases in Ukraine in which members of the previous government were charged and sentenced for corruption, sparking EU concerns about political freedoms in the former Soviet bloc state.
Avakov’s lawyer declined to comment but outside the court, his friend and political supporter Audrius Butkevichus told Reuters Avakov wanted to be tried in Italy because he knew he would not get a fair hearing in Ukraine.
"He will have no possibility to fight for himself, his public possibilities to speak will also be suppressed … other examples of political persecution in Ukraine can tell you that and this time will be the same," Butkevichus said.
"He is looking to have normal European procedures and he thinks he can get it."
The next court hearing is set for April 10.
Batkivshchyna, Ukraine’s leading opposition party to which both Tymoshenko and Avakov belong, has also urged Rome not to extradite Avakov, the governor of the eastern Kharkiv region in 2005-2010, saying he is a victim of political repression.
The European Union has already condemned the sentencing of Tymoshenko, the fiercest opponent of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich, and Yuri Lutsenko, a former interior minister, as politically motivated.
Tymoshenko, 51, a charismatic politician and a fiery speaker, helped lead the 2004 Orange Revolution street protests that doomed Yanukovich’s first bid for the presidency. She went on to serve two terms as prime minister.
But after Yanukovich made a comeback and beat her in the February 2010 presidential election, criminal proceedings were brought against her and other members of the opposition.
