Ukraine's opposition calls for the creation of 'Resistance Committee' after Tymoshenko's arrest

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Ukraine's opposition calls for the creation of 'Resistance Committee' after Tymoshenko's arrest

2011-08-07 03:19:10 GMT+7 (ICT)

KIEV (BNO NEWS) -- Ukraine's leading opposition party called for the creation of a nationwide Resistance Committee after its leader Yulia Tymoshenko was arrested, Batkivshchyna party's first deputy chairman, Alexander Turchinov, said on Saturday.

"The Resistance Committee should unite all the political parties and non-government organizations that consider independent Ukraine, freedom, democracy, European prospects and well-being of the people as the main values," Turchinov said in a statement, as quoted by RIA Novosti.

Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Tymoshenko was arrested on Friday during a court hearing over charges of abuse of power in connection with a 2009 gas deal with Russia. She says the charges against her are politically motivated.

Turchinov, who is a former Ukraine's first deputy prime minister, said that Tymoshenko's arrest became a turning point, preceding the collapse of democracy. "Having put Tymoshenko behind the bars without any legal grounds, the regime showed that it would not stop at anything to eliminate its opponents," he said, according to RIA Novosti.

The arrest came after prosecutor Lilia Frolova asked the court to keep Tymoshenko, who had only faced travel restrictions, in custody, saying that she had obstructed the investigation into the case.

The former prime minister is accused of illegally forcing state energy company Naftogaz to sign a gas supply contract with Russian gas company Gazprom in 2009, which the state says required approval of the Cabinet of Ministers. The agreement ended a three-week standoff between Russia and Ukraine over the price of natural gas.

Tymoshenko, the country's top opposition leader, has criticized her trial as an attempt by President Viktor Yanukovych, who narrowly beat her in the presidential election in February 2010, to bar her from elections.

The court adjourned the hearing until August 8.

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