KIEV, August 7 (Itar-Tass) — A Kiev district court bans meetings near the building of the Pechersk court, which ruled to arrest Ukrainian ex-premier Yulia Timoshenko on Friday, Ukrainian media report.
The decision to prohibit meetings near the court was taken overnight. The court did not say whether deputies were allowed to receive citizens at the site, a member of Timoshenko’s Bloc, Sergei Pashinsky noted, commenting on the court decision.
“After the court announced the ruling, deputies asked the judge whether they were right to understand that receiving of citizens was allowed, but the judge in reply only re-read out the court ruling, which said nothing about it,” the legislator noted, adding that Timoshenko’s Bloc intended to continue the practice of receiving citizens near the court.
Timoshenko is accused of the unlawful signing of contracts with Russia in 2009 for gas supplies and doing damage to the state. According to the indictment, the damage amounts to more than 1.5 billion hryvnas (dlrs about 200 million).
A tent camp was set up near the court building overnight. The ex-premier’s supporters began an indefinitely-lasting action, pitching about 30 tents on the pedestrian part of the capital’s central Kreshchatik Street. There are plaques on 20 tents indicating those are “Public Reception Rooms” of opposition parliament members. Inscriptions on metal fences near the tents read “the New Order — the Entire Country Has Become a Zone”, “the Gang Has Got not Those”, “When You are Thrown Away from the Flat, It will be Already Late.” Policemen are on duty near the tents.
The entrance to the yard of the court is blocked by an iron fence and guarded by Griffon special-purpose unit members. Five buses with darkened windows with the inscription “Honour Guard of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry’s Troops” stand along Khmelnitsky Street. Special-purpose unit members are inside.