KIEV: A Ukrainian court on Friday rejected a new appeal to free imprisoned opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko despite mounting global concern over the motivations for her detention.
The Kiev appeals court said in its ruling there were no legal grounds to examine the appeal to release the former prime minister, one week after her arrest for contempt of court during her abuse of power trial stunned Ukraine.
"There are no legal grounds for examining this ruling. The court rules that the appeal is inadmissible," said judge Olga Efimova. "This decision cannot be appealed," she added.
The ruling was greeted with cries of "Shame!" by pro-Tymoshenko lawmakers who had crammed into the tiny courtroom, while one deputy yelled at the judge: "Criminal in a judge's gown! Tyrant to the prison!"
Tymoshenko's lawyer Yuriy Sukhov described the ruling as "summary justice".
"There is no judicial system in Ukraine. It's absurd to put someone in prison who does not have the right to even contest this decision."
The arrest of Tymoshenko shocked Ukraine's EU partners, who until now had been pleasantly surprised by the efforts of President Viktor Yanukovych to shake off his pro-Kremlin image and aim for European integration.
Tymoshenko, who was not present in court for the hearing, has always maintained she is the victim of a political vendetta pursued by Yanukovych after defeating her and other leaders of the 2004 Orange Revolution in 2010 elections.
The presidency has insisted it has no involvement in the trial and Yanukovych on Thursday made clear he will not intervene to free Tymoshenko, saying Ukraine's courts were free of political interference.
But increasing the pressure on Tymoshenko, Ukraine's deputy prosecutor general Renat Kuzmin alleged that there was also evidence in the United States linking her to the murder of a Ukrainian deputy in 1996.
Kuzmin told the weekly Focus magazine that US prosecutors had witness testimony implicating Tymoshenko, along with her one time mentor and former prime minister Pavlo Lazarenko, in the murder of Yevgen Shcherban.
Lazarenko is now jailed in the United States for embezzlement and money laundering.
Bur asked if Ukraine planned to open an inquiry into the allegations, Kuzmin added: "I repeat that all this information is in the United States as well as the witnesses."
Tymoshenko's Batkivshchyna party ridiculed the allegations, saying "the sick fantasy of the prosecutor lackeys of Yanukovych knows no limits."
Tymoshenko, who is being held in Kiev's Lukyanovsky detention centre, was placed under arrest on Friday after describing her successor as "corrupt" and incessantly mocking the judge on Twitter.
Another judge on Monday threw out three motions to reverse the order, including requests backed by the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and 2004 Eurovision Song Contest winner Ruslana.
Tymoshenko risks being jailed for up to 10 years if convicted of abuse of power over gas deals she signed with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in 2009 which ended a standoff that cut supplies to several European countries.
A diverse crowd of Ukrainian celebrities have taken up her cause, most notably heavyweight boxing star Vitali Klitschko who broke off training for a world championship fight to battle for Tymoshenko's release.
Tymoshenko was a key figure in the 2004 Orange Revolution uprising which annulled fraudulent elections that had been awarded to the pro-Kremlin Yanukovych and brought a pro-Western government to power.
However Yanukovych came back to defeat Tymoshenko in 2010 elections praised as fair by the West and has since irritated Russia by seeking to improve ties with the European Union.
Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011
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