The High Council of Justice has chosen a preventive measure for Tymoshenko: what is known (video of the hearing)
16 January 14:46
The High Anti-Corruption Court has imposed a preventive measure on Yulia Tymoshenko, leader of the Batkivshchyna party. The measure is a bail of 33.28 million hryvnia. This was reported by "Komersant Ukrainian", citing a broadcast of the court hearing.
The court partially granted the motion. The Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office requested bail of 50 million hryvnia, while Tymoshenko requested either a personal commitment or no preventive measure.
The MP must appear when summoned by investigators and the court and may not leave the Kyiv region without permission.
In addition to bail, Tymoshenko is required to surrender her foreign passports and refrain from communicating with certain MPs.
According to her lawyers, the leader of the Batkivshchyna party will not be required to wear an electronic bracelet.
It should be noted that the politician previously told journalists that she intends to appeal the court’s decision.
“We want to destroy this majority,” – NABU tapes
On January 14 , NABU released audio recordings of conversations which, according to the investigation, are evidence of negotiations regarding such a scheme. The recordings feature a voice that, according to detectives, sounds like Yulia Tymoshenko’s.
Anti-corruption authorities say that these materials formed the basis for the notification of suspicion. At the same time, the final assessment of the evidence must be provided by the court.
The conversations on the NABU tapes suggest that the person with a voice similar to Tymoshenko’s is discussing the start of cooperation with a group of three MPs and directly explaining the motives.
The conversations are dated January 12, the day before the party’s office was searched.
In the recordings, both speak Russian. Tymoshenko, in particular, says that on the issue of personnel changes, her deputies only vote for removal from office, but do not vote for appointments. Also, Batkivshchyna deputies vote to include draft laws on the agenda, but do not vote on the documents themselves, in order to “kill” them.
NABU’s “torpedo” among the Servants of the People
During the hearing, Vitaliy Grechishkin, a prosecutor with the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, read out the testimony of a witness who had met with Yulia Tymoshenko the day before and written a statement to NABU.
Tymoshenko believes that the tapes released by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau contain her conversation with Servant of the People MP Ihor Kopytin. In the transcripts, he is referred to as “Mazur.”
“He is not just a deputy. This deputy is under criminal investigation by NABU and is under pressure from NABU to carry out certain tasks for NABU. You know that there are certain agreements where they say, ‘dig up something,’ and we will drop your criminal cases in return,” Tymoshenko said.
What Tymoshenko says about the NABU accusations
The leader of Batkivshchyna refuted the NABU accusations, calling them unfounded and unproven. According to her, more than 30 detectives in full gear and armed came to the party’s office at 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday, January 13. The MP claims that she was alone in the office at the time, which did not even have security. According to her, law enforcement officers arrived at the party’s office in five buses.
She stated that the NABU employees did not have search warrants with them.
The MP also said that her parliamentary documents and personal savings, which she claims are reflected in her declaration, were seized.
What is known about the Tymoshenko case
On January 13, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office reported the exposure of the leader of one of the Verkhovna Rada factions for offering illegal benefits to MPs from other political forces for voting “for” or “against” specific bills.
The SAPO statement emphasizes that this is a preliminary legal assessment and that only a court can make a final conclusion. The preliminary classification is Part 4 of Article 369 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (offering, promising, or providing illegal benefits to a public official), which carries a penalty of 4 to 8 years in prison.
