UKRAINE/FILE: Former Ukrainian PM Yulia Tymoshenko calls hunger strike

Record ID: 341226

  • Title: UKRAINE/FILE: Former Ukrainian PM Yulia Tymoshenko calls hunger strike
  • Date: 25th November 2013
  • Summary: KIEV, UKRAINE (FILE - OCTOBER 11, 2011) (REUTERS) JUDGE READING VERDICT IN COURT TYMOSHENKO SITTING IN COURT VARIOUS OF TYMOSHENKO BEING LED AWAY BY COURT SECURITY AFTER VERDICT, PEOPLE IN COURTROOM SHOUTING IN UKRAINIAN 'SHAME!' KIEV, UKRAINE (FILE - NOVEMBER 2004) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) CROWD OF ORANGE SUPPORTERS ON KIEV INDEPENDENCE SQUARE CHANTING TYMOSHENKO HO
  • Embargoed: 10th December 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Ukraine
  • Country: Ukraine
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA1J9CBAHE6X6X8LOE94WKSBXYP
  • Story Text: Jailed Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko launched a hunger strike on Monday (November 25) to push President Viktor Yanukovich to sign a landmark trade agreement with the European Union, her lawyer said.
    "As a sign of unity with you I declare an unlimited hunger strike with the demand to Yanukovich to sign the association agreement," Tymoshenko said in a message to thousands of pro-Europe demonstrators rallying in Kiev which was read out by her defence lawyer, Serhiy Vlasenko.
    "Today Mrs. Tymoshenko made an open statement to Ukrainian society. She said that she was happy that hundreds of thousands of people of Ukraine were manifesting against the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers who stopped the Euro-integration. Mrs. Tymoshenko is limited in her rights and in her possibilities, to protest against that. So from today she announced the timeless hunger strike up till the situation when Yanukovich will sign this association agreement with the European Union in Vilnius," Vlasenko told Reuters.
    Thousands of Ukrainians have protested for days over Yanukovich's decision to halt further integration into Europe.
    Tymoshenko, who was imprisoned in 2011 after a trial Western governments called politically motivated, declared the hunger strike to push President Yanukovich to sign a trade pact with the European Union.
    Before the expected signing in Vilnius, EU envoys had negotiated unsuccessfully for Tymoshenko's release, seeing her as a victim of "selective justice" in the country.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2013. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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