KIEV – Yulia Tymoshenko, Ukraine’s leading opposition politician and former prime minister, has been detained during her trial after the judge ruled that she was “systematically” disrupting courtroom proceedings.
In a move likely to attract the scrutiny of foreign governments, Ms Tymoshenko was led from the courtroom and driven to a detention centre under a heavy police escort who jostled with supporters protesting and chanting “shame!”
Charges of abuse of office against Ms Tymoshenko, the fiercest opponent of pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovich, have drawn criticism from the European Union, which is now in talks with the former Soviet republic to strengthen bilateral ties.
Ukrainian prosecutors accuse Ms Tymoshenko of illegally forcing state energy company Naftogaz to sign a gas supply contract with Russia in 2009, charges which she denies. The former PM was taken into custody over “systemic violations” of rules.
The judge did not say how long the detention would last and adjourned the trial until Monday.
Ms Tymoshenko, who twice served as prime minister between 2005 and 2010, says the case against her is politically motivated and has been fabricated on the orders of Mr Yanukovich, who only narrowly beat her in last year’s presidential election.
Mr Yanukovich has denied any involvement with Ms Tymoshenko’s case, while his government says her actions in the gas deal with Russia were a betrayal of national interests.
Since the start of the trial in June she has openly mocked Judge Kireyev in the courtroom, refusing to stand when addressing him and calling him Mr Yanukovich’s puppet.
“Just shoot me already,” she fumed in response to the request for her detention, telling the judge to give the prosecutor a gun.
“ exhausted the government’s patience. They got fed up with her behaviour and decided to put her in her place,” political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko of the Ukrainian think-tank Penta said. “This is a sort of a test: how will people react in Ukraine, will be able to stage mass protests and how is the West going to respond to this?”
Meanwhile, western governments have warned Kiev that the case against her may be seen as politically motivated.
In 2001, Ms Tymoshenko (50) spent more than a month in prison on tax evasion and corruption charges after falling out with then-president Leonid Kuchma but was acquitted in a trial. She later became one of the leaders of Ukraine’s 2004 Orange Revolution. – (Reuters)