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Ukrainian prosecutors Tuesday denied the arrest of former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko after the pro-Western leader's party said she had been taken into custody. The 2005 Orange Revolution leader has faced repeated questioning on charges that she defrauded the state out of millions while serving as head of the government. She and her party feel that they are the victims of a political vendetta by Ukraine's current leader Viktor Yanukovych, Tymoshenko's pro-Russian rival who narrowly beat her in presidential elections last year. Her supporters have long feared Tymoshenko's arrest and announced on their party website on Tuesday that "the authorities have arrested Yulia Tymoshenko" following another interrogation session. However, a top investigative official said Tymoshenko would be allowed to go home after questioning. "Right now we are holding an interrogation, and when it concludes, Yulia Tymoshenko will go home," Deputy Prosecutor General Renat Kuzmin was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. Tymoshenko is currently barred from leaving the capital Kiev, and a spokesman for the prosecutor general's office said a decision to place her under arrest "has not yet been taken" by the judge overseeing the case. The authorities accuse Tymoshenko of refusing to cooperate, and investigators said in a statement that "she has long been evading the investigation." Tymoshenko has turned into one of the most high-profile and powerful political opponents of Yanukovych, her eternal political rival whose controversial presidential victory in 2005 was overturned after mass street protests. AFP |
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