Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko urged President Viktor Yanukovich's opponents on Saturday not to abandon their protests in central Kiev even though parliament has voted to oust him.
In an emotional speech to thousands of protesters in Kiev's Independence Square after she was carried to the stage in a wheelchair, she said: "You have no right to leave Maidan (square)... Don't stop yet".
In an emotional speech to thousands of protesters in Kiev's Independence Square after she was carried to the stage in a wheelchair, she said: "You have no right to leave Maidan (square)... Don't stop yet".
Tymoshenko, a former prime minister, was released earlier on Saturday from the hospital where she had been held under prison guard for much of the time since she was convicted in 2011 on charges of abuse of office. Her supporters maintain that the case was politically motivated.
Her speech was briefly interrupted by a heckler but she later carried on addressing the crowd. Some welcomed her speech but others whistled.
Freed Ukrainian ex-premier Yulia Tymoshenko says she will run for president
Ukrainian ex-premier Yulia Timoshenko said she would run for the presidency. The presidential elections in Ukraine are scheduled for May 25. Timoshenko, who has been freed, has now left a Kharkov clinic and travelled to Kiev by a special flight.
"Yulia Timoshenko has moved to Maidan (Independence Square)," leader of the Batkivshchnina faction Arseny Yatsenyuk said. He had earlier announced that the former prime minister was en route to Independence Square in Kiev, the focal point of pro-European demonstrations, after being released earlier on Saturday.
"Yulia is on her way to Maidan [Independence Square]," Yatsenyuk said after a telephone conversation with Tymoshenko in the presence of reporters.
One minute before, witnesses and Batkivshchyna confirmed that Tymoshenko had been discharged from the clinic in Kharkov where she had been receiving treatment since May 2012.
She left the hospital premises with a motorcade.
Tymoshenko released from prison - Russian lawmaker
A senior Russian lawmaker who is currently in Kharkiv has claimed that former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko has been released from prison. "According to my information, Tymoshenko has been released and at the moment is in Kharkiv. Her daughter is on her way to pick her up, and then she'll go to Kiev," Alexei Pushkov, chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, said.
Pushkov had attended a congress in Kharkiv of lawmakers representing regions in southeastern Ukraine and the country's autonomous Crimea province.
The Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada ruled on Saturday to carry out Ukraine's international commitments on freeing former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko from imprisonment.
The decision was supported by 322 out of the 331 parliamentarians who had signed in at the session hall on Saturday. Newly elected Rada Chairman Oleksandr Turchynov had said before the voting that the decision had to be made urgently as Tymoshenko's life was in danger.
"According to our information, Yulia Tymoshenko is facing danger," he said. Tymoshenko's defender Serhiy Vlasenko had said on Shuster Live TV talk show on Friday evening that Yanukovych was obviously not willing to sanction Tymoshenko's liberation.
"In line with the Ukrainian constitution, Viktor Yanukovych is supposed to sign this bill as soon as possible. And as soon as this bill is signed, the defense will file a motion with the Pechersky District Court on invalidating this disgraceful [:] conviction and closing this farfetched criminal case," Vlasenko said.
Earlier on Friday, the Verkhovna Rada had passed amendments to the Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes regarding the application of the provisions of Article 19 of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption to national law. The bill suggested that Ukrainian Criminal Code Article 364 be amended in a way that, in particular, "the pursuing of lucrative or other personal interests or interests of third parties" as an essential element of the crime that the article covers be replaced by the goal of deriving unlawful benefit.
The amendments also invalidate Article 365-1 dealing with "abuse of powers by an officer of a legal entity under private law regardless of its organizational and legal form."
Some deputies noted when the amendments were discussed at the parliament that their enactment would help free Tymoshenko.
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