Husband of Ukraine opposition leader jailed in October has fled the country after wife transferred to prison colony in Kharkiv.
The husband of Ukraine's imprisoned opposition leader, Yulia Tymoshenko, has been granted asylum in the Czech Republic, a week after his wife was transferred to a penal colony to serve a seven-year sentence.
The Czech interior ministry confirmed on Friday it had approved the application for asylum submitted by Tymoshenko's partner, Oleksander, a businessman.
Batkivshchina, the political party led by Tymoshenko, issued a statement on Friday saying: "This step by Oleksander Tymoshenko is the response to amoral attempts to torture and put pressure on Yulia Tymoshenko by persecuting her relatives and people close to her."
The former prime minister was transferred from a detention centre in Kiev to the Kachanovsky women's prison colony in Kharkiv, eastern Ukraine, on 30 December.
Lysova said Tymoshenko was receiving inadequate medical care for back pain and was being monitored around the clock by CCTV in a permanently lit cell. Video footage of Tymoshenko lying in bed in a medical treatment room – filmed against her will – was leaked to Ukrainian media last month.
"Anything is possible with this regime," said Natasha Lysova, Tymoshenko's spokeswoman . "Their illegal terror campaign against Yulia Tymoshenko is a deliberate attempt to destroy her as Yanukovych's main political opponent at elections." Ukraine will hold a parliamentary vote in October, and a presidential poll in 2015.
The US and EU called the Tymoshenko trial an example of "selective justice" and the EU has stalled on a political association and free trade agreement with Ukraine over the case.
Sources:
The Guardian
The Guardian
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