Ukrainian opposition blasts Yanukovych for interfering in investigation
KYIV. June 13 (Interfax) - The Ukrainian opposition party Batkivshchyna is outraged by President Viktor Yanukovych's remark suggesting that former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko played a role in the murder of parliamentarian Yevhen Shcherban in 1996.
"These words by this apology for a Ukrainian president mark an absolute and ultimate collapse of the Ukrainian justice system and even an illusion of independence of Ukrainian prosecutors and courts. A public order for Yulia Tymoshenko's persecution is no longer being hushed up but is being advertised. This is a new step in the dictatorship's evolution. Yanukovych has claimed the investigative and judicial functions. The next step should be Yanukovych's immediate involvement in Yulia Tymoshenko's interrogations and torture," Batkivshchyna said in a statement posted on the party's website on Wednesday.
It suggested that, by making this remark, Yanukovych in fact authorized Tymoshenko's conviction.
Yanukovych was earlier quoted by Bloomberg as saying, "Crimes carried in various criminal cases were carried out with Tymoshenko's participation. This isn't a secret for the whole world - this happened. Including Shcherban's murder. There were motives."
It was reported earlier that Tymoshenko figured as a witness in an investigation into Shcherban's murder in 1996.