You're reading: Yanukovych says he is least interested in criminal case against Tymoshenko (updated)

Strasbourg, June 21 (Interfax-Ukraine) –Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has said that he is the least interested person in having criminal proceedings against former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, but the court hearings in the case against her must be open to the public.

"If you ask me, what I would do so that there were no criminal proceedings against Tymoshenko. I’ll tell you, I would do anything so that this case would not exist, so that there would be no place for the so-called problem, which is now being discussed in Ukraine and in the world. I am the number one person in Ukraine interested in clearing Ukraine of this problem," he told the media in Strasbourg on Tuesday.

Concerning the concrete reason for starting the Tymoshenko trial, Yanukovych said the government cannot forbid citizens and companies to defend their rights.

The trial was opened based on written complaints about violations of the law on her part during her tenure as prime minister, or her entourage, he said.

"The complaints we have today about unlawful activities or violations on the part of Tymoshenko or, possibly, members of her government, or some governmental organizations, are being scrutinized in a natural and real way. In other words, a trial is under way. We cannot obstruct it. A complaint has arrived from the Defense Ministry to the government through diplomatic channels," Yanukovych said.

Also, a letter has arrived with the results of an international audit into "the Tymoshenko government’s corrupt practices."

Answers must be found to all of these questions. "Only the court can provide them," Yanukovych said.