KIEV, November 12 (RAPSI) – Sergei Vlasenko, the defense attorney representing former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, is to be questioned by the Prosecutor General’s Office concerning an assault on his ex-wife, the press service of the Tymoshenko’s Batkivshina opposition party reported on Tuesday.
On Monday, Vlasenko was called to the Prosecutor’s General Office when he was handed a statement that said he was suspected in assaulting his ex-wife Natalia Okunskaya.
Batkivshina said that before the questioning, the defense would release a new statement by Yulia Tymoshenko, concerning the “unfounded prosecution of her closest friends.” After that a press event involving Tymoshenko’s daughter Yevgenia and Sergei Vlasenko will be held.
The investigator asked the Pechyorsky District Court of Kiev to restrict Vlasenko by putting him on bail.
On October 29, The Dnepropetrovsk Region Appeals Court seized a building owned by Tymoshenko’s daughter. The representatives of the ex-PM party called it an attempt to settle the score with political opponents by repressing their children.
In October 2011, Tymoshenko was sentenced to seven years in prison for abuse of power. The judge said she abused her powers when she signed a 2009 deal with Moscow under which Ukraine paid a high price for Russian gas. She also faces accusations in a high-profile murder case.