Tymoshenko called for Saakashvili to be judged not according to the law, but according to conscience
Yulia Tymoshenko today made a pathetic speech in defense of Mikheil Saakashvili in the Pechersky District Court of Kyiv, where a preventive measure was being considered for the former Georgian president, who is suspected of preparing a coup, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
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“Millions of eyes are watching what is happening here. They are trying those officials who carried out this terror against the President of Georgia and his family. How scary it is when a president-reformer, whom the whole world knows, is today brought to justice by a bunch of thieves, kleptomaniacs, and corrupt officials,” Tymoshenko said.
She believes that Saakashvili’s trial is “a marker, a litmus test of whether there is the rule of law, fair courts and prosecutors who serve the law in Ukraine.”
“Here it is not Saakashvili’s case that is being considered, but the case of Ukraine. Was she able to rise above systemic corruption, terror and lawlessness? Above the letter of the law there is also the spirit of law, the spirit of justice, which the judge has the right to use. I ask, at the level of high justice and the honor of Ukraine, to ensure that no preventive measure is applied to the President of Georgia. Because otherwise it will be complicity in the terror that is being used against the opposition today,” Tymoshenko addressed the judge.
She expressed confidence that Saakashvili will not run away from Ukrainian justice, because Poroshenko wants this too much.
“The current government would pay a lot of money for him to leave Ukraine. They had already expelled him. But he cannot leave, because he has a task and obligations to people here. I trust the level of his morality and honor will not allow him to run away from even corrupt justice. The prosecutor's office knows that all the charges are falsified and forged and have nothing to do with Saakashvili. Everything has so crossed the boundaries of morality, responsibility and law that hope is only for you, your honor,” Tymoshenko concluded.
The judge clarified whether Tymoshenko understands that if Saakashvili hides from the investigation, a fine may be imposed on her. Tymoshenko answered in the affirmative and left the hall.
After her departure, 7 deputies of the Verkhovna Rada and one deputy of the Kiev City Council declared their intention to take Saakashvili on bail. Then, despite the resistance of the judge, nationalist Stepan Khmara spoke in support of the Georgian president.
Tymoshenko called for Saakashvili to be judged not by the law, but by conscience.