Ukrainian opposition leader Tymoshenko freed
- 10 years ago
ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)
Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko was freed on Saturday from the hospital where she had been held under prison guard for most of the time since she was convicted in 2011.
The former prime minister, a bitter rival of President Viktor Yanukovich, waved to supporters from a car as she was driven out of the hospital in the northeastern city if Kharkiv.
Tymoshenko, 53, was jailed in 2011 for abuse of office over a gas deal with Russia but her supporters and Western leaders say her trial was politically motivated.
Later she told journalists that parliament's vote on Saturday to oust President Viktor Yanukovich amounted to the fall of a dictator.
Regretting the deaths of anti-Yanukovich protesters in gun battles and clashes with police, she said everything must be done so that "each drop of blood was not spilled in vain."
Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko was freed on Saturday from the hospital where she had been held under prison guard for most of the time since she was convicted in 2011.
The former prime minister, a bitter rival of President Viktor Yanukovich, waved to supporters from a car as she was driven out of the hospital in the northeastern city if Kharkiv.
Tymoshenko, 53, was jailed in 2011 for abuse of office over a gas deal with Russia but her supporters and Western leaders say her trial was politically motivated.
Later she told journalists that parliament's vote on Saturday to oust President Viktor Yanukovich amounted to the fall of a dictator.
Regretting the deaths of anti-Yanukovich protesters in gun battles and clashes with police, she said everything must be done so that "each drop of blood was not spilled in vain."