The court set Tymoshenko UAH 33 million in bail

A court has set bail for Yulia Tymoshenko, the leader of the “Motherland” parliamentary faction, at UAH 33 million in a case of bribing MPs for votes. The court also ordered her not to communicate with a number of MPs.

This became known from the broadcast in the courtroom.

Tymoshenko was banned from leaving Kyiv and the region without the investigatorʼs permission and was banned from traveling outside Ukraine, and she must surrender her passport. The judge did not grant the prosecutorʼs request to have Tymoshenko wear an electronic bracelet.

During the hearing, Tymoshenko stated that a witness in the NABU case against her was an MP from the “Servant of the People” party Ihor Kopytin. She claims that NABU has a case against Kopytin and that he is under pressure.

According to Tymoshenko, Kopytin "asked" her for several meetings, said that he no longer wanted to be in the “Servant of the People” faction, and offered her cooperation many times. However, she is convinced that the MP provided NABU with information that was not true.

The faction leader also stated that her suspicion was "an absolutely ordered political action", and called the money found on her during the search "family savings".

The case of Yulia Tymoshenko

On January 13, NABU and SAPO stated that the head of one of the factions in the Verkhovna Rada offered to “buy” the votes of MPs from other factions. As it later turned out, this was Yulia Tymoshenko, the head of the “Motherland” faction.

Tymoshenko confirmed that searches were conducted at the “Motherland” party office throughout the night of January 13-14. The MP denied all charges. She added that her phones, parliamentary documents, and personal savings were taken from her.

On January 14, Yulia Tymoshenko was informed of suspicion under Part 4 of Article 369 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine — offering a bribe to an official. This is punishable by imprisonment for five to ten years with possible confiscation of property.

NABU and SAPO also released recordings of a wiretap of a conversation allegedly between Tymoshenko and an MP, where she explains in Russian in a whisper how and for what to vote. The investigation also recorded that Tymoshenko discussed the transfer of funds with the MP in the Signal messenger, where she also gave instructions on voting. They concerned not only draft laws, but also personnel decisions of the parliament.

Already on January 15, the SAPO spokeswoman Olha Postoliuk told Babel that the prosecutorʼs office would ask the court for a preventive measure for Tymoshenko in the form of a bail of UAH 50 million and certain obligations.

In the evening of the same day, Yulia Tymoshenko reported that her accounts had been blocked. According to the MP, she planned to pay the deposit, but now she cannot do so.

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