Ukraine's opposition leader and former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko has filed a complaint at the European Court of Human Rights claiming that charges against her including abuse of office are politically motivated.
"We've already filed a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights, there we set forth our position, completely substantiated the existence of political repressions in Ukraine and we expect that our report will be sufficient for the court to deliver a fair judgment," Tymoshenko said at a press conference on Wednesday.
Tymoshenko, who resigned as prime minister after losing the presidential election to Viktor Yanukovych in February 2010, is charged with illegally diverting $425 million meant for environmental projects into pension funds. A second case includes accusations of spending 100 million euros ($131 million) from government reserves to buy cars that she later used in her presidential campaign.
Prosecutors have also charged her with abuse of office for concluding a gas import contract with Russian gas monopoly Gazprom in 2009 which they say cost the state $440 million in lost revenues.
The politician denies all allegations of wrongdoing.
The European Union's top diplomat, Catherine Ashton, expressed concern in late May that the charges brought against Tymoshenko could be politically motivated.
"If the European Court of Human Rights upholds the complaint filed by Tymoshenko, this will mean it considers the cases against her trumped up and politically motivated," Tymoshenko's lawyer Sergey Vlasenko said at the press conference.
Tymoshenko said the international firms Covington&Burling and BDO USA would represent her interests in court.
KIEV, June 22 (RIA Novosti)
