PRAGUE, Czech Republic - The husband of jailed former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was granted political asylum in the Czech Republic on Friday, an official said.
Interior Ministry spokesman Vladimir Repka said his ministry approved the application submitted by Oleksandr Tymoshenko, but refused to provide details about the decision.
Yulia Tymoshenko, Ukraine's top opposition leader and a former presidential candidate, was sentenced to seven years in jail in October in a trial the West has condemned as politically motivated. She has reportedly been in poor health and denied medical care while locked up in a Kyiv, Ukraine, prison. In December, the EU balked at signing a landmark co-operation agreement with Ukraine over the jailing of Tymoshenko.
In Moscow, Yulia Tymoshenko's lawyer, Serhiy Vlasenko, said Friday on Russia's NTV television that Oleksandr Tymoshenko had asked for asylum in the Czech Republic because he is being targeted in an ongoing probe into his wife's business activities when she owned a top Ukraine's energy company. Vlasenko said Oleksandr requested asylum because a criminal investigation has been launched against him in Ukraine in an attempt to increase pressure on his jailed wife.
This isn't the first time the Czech Republic has acted regarding Yulia Tymoshenko's case.
A year ago, the republic granted political asylum to Ukraine's former Economics Minister Bohdan Danylyshin, one of Tymoshenko's allies, who was charged with abuse of office in his country. The move strained relations between the two countries and Friday's move is expected to have the same effect.
In May, Ukraine expelled two employees at the military section at the Czech Republic's Embassy in Kyiv, accusing them of espionage. Czech officials said that was probably prompted by Danylyshin's case.
However, Czech Interior Minister Jan Kubice said Friday that he doesn't believe the decision granting Oleksandr Tymoshenko asylum will harm is country's relations with Ukraine.
According to the Czech register of companies, a man called Oleksandr Tymoshenko is listed as a co-owner of International Industrial Projects SRO, a company based in the northern Czech city of Usti nad Labem.
Tymoshenko's husband had attended her trial in October and may also have sought asylum in the Czech Republic for personal reasons, including the ability to publicize her case.
The Czech Interior Ministry is in charge of granting asylum.
Earlier Friday, Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg confirmed Tymoshenko's husband had applied for asylum and the ministry said in a statement that it wants to maintain good relations with Ukraine.
