vhfmh

Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko began a hunger strike

 

Former Ukrainian Prime Minister and opponent, Yulia Tymoshenko, said Tuesday it has begun a hunger strike in prison to protest against "political repression" in this country, told ; AFP's lawyer, Sergei Vlassenko.

"She began a hunger strike Friday, April 20," said Mr. Vlassenko, reached by phone after visiting his client in prison in Kharkiv (East) where she is serving a seven-year sentence for abuse of power.

"This is an unlimited hunger strike, demanding that she stop political repressions in the country," he said.

Imprisoned since last August, Ms. Tymoshenko, 51, was sentenced in October to seven years in prison for abuse of power.

It is also considered since April 19 for embezzlement and tax evasion from 1997 to 1998 when it led the group of Ukraine United Energy Systems (SEUU), offenses carrying 12 years in prison. 

The opponent, defeated candidate for president in 2010, denounced these actions as a personal vendetta of the current president Viktor Yanukovych seeking to exclude from the political scene his main opponent, Ege ; series of the Orange Revolution of 2004.

The case Tymoshenko has been roundly criticized by the European Union and the United States who see it as politically motivated.