Tymoshenko describes trial as a lynching as EU puts pressure on Kiev to free her

UKRAINE’S OPPOSITION leader Yulia Tymoshenko has denounced her trial as a “lynching”, as the European Union cranks up pressure on Kiev to free the former prime minister.

Washington and other major western capitals have also pressed President Viktor Yanukovich to ensure that his fiercest political rival is not imprisoned, for allegedly abusing her power by signing a 2009 gas deal with Russia that prosecutors say was cripplingly expensive.

The court’s verdict could have major implications for Ukraine, amid EU warnings that Ms Tymoshenko’s fate will decide whether Brussels will create a free trade zone with Kiev this year and sign an association agreement – a key first step towards EU membership.

“This trial is a classic case of political lynching. No document has ever proved any guilt. They have falsified this entire affair,” Ms Tymoshenko (50) said of Mr Yanukovich and his allies, who were kept out of power – albeit temporarily – by the 2004 Orange Revolution that she jointly led.

“I acted legally, effectively, in a correct manner of state. If the circumstances were the same today I would act in the same way,” she said of the disputed gas deal that ended a rumbling price row with Moscow.

Appearing to fight back tears, Ms Tymoshenko said her verdict had already been decided by Mr Yanukovich – who is in Poland for potentially tricky meetings with EU leaders.

Turning away from the judge, and occasionally interrupted by cheers from supporters in the courtroom, Ms Tymoshenko said the case was Mr Yanukovich’s attempt to neutralise his most outspoken and popular rival.

“The president of Ukraine considers me a dangerous political opponent – and rightly so,” Ms Tymoshenko said. “I will devote my life to making sure Ukraine becomes free.”

Mr Yanukovich has sought to prove that he is more than the Kremlin stooge that critics expected when he narrowly beat Ms Tymoshenko in last year’s election.

Although he hails from Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine and is backed by tycoons with close links to Russia, he insists that he wants balanced ties between Moscow and Brussels.

Most of the strongly pro-EU supporters of Ms Tymoshenko, by contrast, are in the west of the country where Ukrainian nationalism and suspicion of Russia run deep.

Officials from the EU have put increasing pressure on Ukraine not to jail Ms Tymoshenko and several allies who are also on trial.

However, after the prosecutor this week requested a seven-year sentence for her, EU ambassador to Kiev José Manuel Pinto Teixeira lamented “that the message was not heard”.

“What is happening in these trials is what we believe to be a political motivation to exclude political opponents from the opportunity for running for office,” Mr Teixeira said.

“It seems we are continuing a process that we would like to avoid for the sake of Ukraine, for the sake of the relations between Ukraine and the EU, for the sake of what we believe Ukrainians want for themselves.”