UKRAINE: Police break into courtroom to detain supporter of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko during a trial on charges of abuse of power

Record ID: 731091

  • Title: UKRAINE: Police break into courtroom to detain supporter of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko during a trial on charges of abuse of power
  • Date: 7th July 2011
  • Summary: COURT ROOM INTERIOR, JUDGE COMING INTO COURT ROOM JUDGE CALLING FOR ORDER VARIOUS OF TYMOSHENKO IN COURT ROOM TYMOSHENKO SUPPORTERS IN COURT ROOM (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) FORMER PRIME MINISTER AND OPPOSITION LEADER YULIA TYMOSHENKO, ADDRESSING MEDIA, SAYING "They want to take the court room by force now, so I am asking you (media) to show it all." POLICE STORMING COURT ROOM, TYMOSHENKO SUPPORTERS TRYING TO STOP THEM VARIOUS OF SCUFFLES BETWEEN TYMOSHENKO SUPPORTERS AND POLICE TYMOSHENKO WATCHING SCUFFLES MORE SCUFFLES TYMOSHENKO WATCHING SUPPORTERS PUSHING POLICEMEN OUT OF COURT ROOM BROKEN TV GEAR JOURNALISTS PUTTING CAMERAS BACK TO THEIR POSITIONS AND SUPPORTERS RETURNING TO SEATS (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) FORMER PRIME MINISTER AND OPPOSITION LEADER YULIA TYMOSHENKO, SAYING: "Half a thousand of heavily armed special forces policemen are standing outside the court right now. They are ready to break into the court any minute as soon as judge Kireyev, the authorities' protégé, commands them to mop up the people in this court room. Unfortunately, this is what the authorities are like in Ukraine now. We need to do everything possible to remove these authorities as soon as possible." TYMOSHENKO'S SUPPORTERS IN COURT ROOM JUDGE GATHERING HIS PAPERS AND LEAVING, TYMOSHENKO'S SUPPORTERS CHANTING "SHAME!" TYMOSHENKO LEAVING COURT ROOM
  • Embargoed: 22nd July 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Ukraine, Ukraine
  • Country: Ukraine
  • Topics: Crime,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA2WD0H3FBORVOSRH7ZMGAMBNAQ
  • Story Text: Scuffles broke out between police and parliamentarians supporting former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in a court in Kiev during a trial on abuse-of-office charges on Wednesday (July 6).
    Special police forces stormed the court after one of Tymoshenko's supporters refused to leave the court room, Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported.
    Judge Rodion Kireyev asked the policemen to interfere and to take opposition member Yevgeny Suslov out of Pechersky court for inappropriate behaviour and raising his voice in the courtroom, RIA said. The supporters of Yulia Tymoshenko tried to stop the policemen, which ended up with a fight.
    Before the fighting began, Tymoshenko asked the television and photo media to record everything that was going on in the court room.
    "They want to take the court room by force now, so I am asking you (media) to show it all," Tymoshenko said.
    Tymoshenko, the fiercest rival of President Viktor Yanukovich, faces up to 10 years in prison on charges linked to a 2009 gas deal with Russia and is the target of two other pending criminal cases.
    Her case has raised questions over the independence of the judiciary in the former Soviet republic and overshadowed its plans to forge closer ties with the European Union.
    After the police managed to take the parliamentarian out of the court room, Tymoshenko blamed the judge of threatening her and her supporters.
    "Half a thousand of heavily armed special forces policemen are standing outside the court right now. They are ready to break into the court any minute as soon as judge Kireyev, the authorities' protégé, commands them to mop up the people in this court room. Unfortunately, this is what the authorities are like in Ukraine now. We need to do everything possible to remove these authorities as soon as possible," Tymoshenko said in the court room.
    Judge Kireyev asked Tymoshenko to leave the courtroom and when she refused, he took his papers and left the room while the ex-PM supporters were chanting "Shame!"
    The trial was postponed until Thursday.
    This week, Ukraine's state security service SBU said it had launched an additional criminal case linked to the affairs of an energy company once run by Tymoshenko.
    The SBU said company executives, together with former government officials, tried to steal $405 million from the state budget.
    Tymoshenko, who has served twice as prime minister, has dismissed earlier charges as politically motivated and accused Yanukovich, who narrowly beat her in the 2010 presidential election, of cracking down on the opposition.
    Yanukovich says his government is merely fighting corruption.
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