Ukraine's High Anti-Corruption Court allows party leader Tymoshenko one-time trip abroad

The High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine has allowed Yuliia Tymoshenko, leader of the Batkivshchyna party and a suspect in a case involving the alleged offer of bribes to members of parliament, to travel abroad to attend an international event in Croatia.

Source: Anti-Corruption Action Centre on Telegram; broadcast of the High Anti-Corruption Court hearing

Details: The judge partially granted the defence's motion to change Tymoshenko's pre-trial restriction.

Taking into account an order by the speaker of parliament, the court allowed Tymoshenko to travel to Zagreb from 27 April to 3 May.

Under the court's decision, Tymoshenko must return her passport to the authorities within three days of returning to Ukraine.

The Anti-Corruption Action Centre reported that during her remarks, the suspect said that representatives from 65 countries would attend the event and that she would have the opportunity to "help Ukraine with her contacts".

Tymoshenko also said that she would "never in her life, under any pressure or repression, leave Ukraine or go into hiding".

Background: On 8 April, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) reported that they had completed the investigation into the case against Tymoshenko on suspicion of offering bribes to members of parliament and had opened the case materials to her lawyers for review.

Previously:

• On the evening of 13 January, NABU and SAPO reported that they had exposed the head of a Verkhovna Rada faction on corruption charges; Ukrainska Pravda sources indicated that the person in question was Yuliia Tymoshenko.
• On the morning of 14 January, sources in political circles told Ukrainska Pravda that the anti-corruption bodies had served Tymoshenko with a notice of suspicion.
• In audio recordings released by NABU, a person alleged to be Yuliia Tymoshenko is heard discussing with an unnamed MP a system of payments for specific votes in the Verkhovna Rada.
• Tymoshenko herself described the searches as "a grand PR stunt" and claimed it was a clear-out of political competitors ahead of elections. The politician asserts that the anti-corruption investigators "found nothing" and simply took her "work phones, parliamentary documents and personal savings, all of which are fully declared in my official asset declaration". She also claims that the person on the recordings released by the anti-corruption investigators is not her.
• Tymoshenko subsequently said in court that the recordings released by NABU had captured a conversation with Ihor Kopytin, an MP from the Servant of the People party, whom she claims was "carrying out assignments" from the bureau in order to compromise her. Kopytyn himself responded that he does not participate in political games and added that he "consistently supports the course towards fighting corruption".

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