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Ukraine ex-PM Tymoshenko freed | Ukraine ex-PM Tymoshenko freed |
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The Ukrainian opposition leader and former Prime Minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, has been freed from jail. | The Ukrainian opposition leader and former Prime Minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, has been freed from jail. |
It follows a vote by parliament to release her after President Viktor Yanukovych fled the capital Kiev. | |
Speaking after her release, she said "the dictatorship has fallen". | |
She was sentenced to seven years in jail in 2011 after a controversial verdict on her actions as prime minister. | |
The glamorous, fiery orator who helped lead the Orange Revolution - Ukraine's revolt against a controversial election in 2004 - was convicted of criminally exceeding her powers when she agreed a gas deal with Russia which was seen to have disadvantaged Ukraine. | The glamorous, fiery orator who helped lead the Orange Revolution - Ukraine's revolt against a controversial election in 2004 - was convicted of criminally exceeding her powers when she agreed a gas deal with Russia which was seen to have disadvantaged Ukraine. |
She has always insisted the charges were untrue, inspired by Mr Yanukovych, the man she helped oust in 2004 who returned to defeat her in the 2010 presidential election. | |
The European Union had demanded her release as one of the conditions of the EU-Ukraine trade pact that President Yanukovych rejected last year - triggering the protests that led to the current crisis. | The European Union had demanded her release as one of the conditions of the EU-Ukraine trade pact that President Yanukovych rejected last year - triggering the protests that led to the current crisis. |
Olha Lappo, spokeswoman for the Fatherland party Ms Tymoshenko leads, said she was heading from prison in the eastern city of Kharkiv to the capital Kiev to join protesters there. | |
Her release was made possible by a European-brokered peace deal between her President Yanukovych and the opposition on Friday. |