Ukraine court bars release of defiant Tymoshenko

UKRAINE: A Ukrainian court on Monday rejected requests to release detained opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko despite global concern, as the former prime minister defiantly proclaimed her trial was run by the mafia.

Judge Rodion Kireyev threw out three motions to reverse Friday’s order to place Tymoshenko under arrest, including requests backed by the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and 2004 Eurovision Song Contest winner Ruslana.

The trial has raised alarm in the West about the rule of law in Ukraine under President Viktor Yanukovych, who defeated Tymoshenko and other leaders of the 2004 Orange Revolution uprising in presidential elections last year.

In dramatic scenes, the opposition leader was delivered to court in central Kiev in a prison van hours before the trial was due to open as hundreds of supporters outside shouted “Yulia!” and “Hands off Tymoshenko!”.

She yelled “Glory to Ukraine!” as the judge entered the cramped courtroom and showed no sign of softening her uncompromising attitude to the court. “I will not stand in front of you, because it would be kneeling in front of the mafia. You are not breaking me but Ukraine’s young democracy,” she told Kireyev.

Tymoshenko, who is on trial on charges of abuse of power over gas deals she signed with Russia in 2009, was placed under arrest for contempt of court after describing her successor as “corrupt” and mocking the judge on Twitter.

The authorities have so far made no attempt to remove a camp of dozens of tents set up by her supporters outside the court who were nonetheless watched closely by dozens of police from the elite Berkut anti-riot unit.

Despite spending the last three nights in prison after her arrest on Friday, Tymoshenko was as ever immaculately turned out with full make-up and her trademark hair braid wrapped around her head. She was not in handcuffs. AFP