Lithuanian president first foreign leader to visit Tymoshenko
Eugenia Tymoshenko, daughter of detained former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Timoshenko, is speaking about her mother’s plight despite fears for her safety. “This is something I realize I have to do no matter what,” she told reporters.
While Yulia Tymoshenko remains positive, “Europe’s trust in Ukraine is dwindling,” said the first foreign leader to visit the jailed former prime minister.
Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite spoke to Tymoshenko today in the Kharkiv hospital where a German doctor is treating her for debilitating spinal condition.
“Ukraine’s European perspective will depend on such factors as ensuring for Yulia Tymoshenko the right to adequate medical treatment,” Grybauskaite said, BBC reported.
Tymoshenko, leader of the pro-western 2004 Orange Revolution, is in a good mood despite her plight, Grybauskaite added.
The much-loved leader with traditional blond braids accused prison guards of beating her and ended a 20-day hunger strike on Wednesday.
Her supporters accuse Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych of jailing Tymoshenko in an act of political revenge.
The government denied the allegation, and said a court sentenced Tymoshenko to seven years in prison for abusing her power while in office.
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Many foreign leaders stand incredulous at the case, and their calls for reform are growing as Ukraine and Poland ready to co-host the European soccer championships next month.
However, earlier this week, Ukraine’s Deputy Prosecutor General Renat Kuzmin said he could charge Tymoshenko with murder within the next two weeks, Euractiv.com reported.
Gunmen dressed as police officers killed former MP Yefhen Shcherban and his wife in 1996. The gunmen said they received $1 million from a Swiss bank account linked to Tymoshenko and former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko.
An American court convicted Lazarenko of money laundering in 2006.
Tymoshenko and her supporters said the accusations are absurd.
Her daughter, Eugenia, has taken up the mantle for her mother’s release, The Associated Press reported.
The 32-year-old has met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in an effort to win her mother’s release.
“I am scared to death talking in public and being in public,” Eugenia Tymoshenko told AP. “I’ve never been brought up like this, but this is something I realize I have to do no matter what.”
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