KIEV — Ukrainian authorities have formally rearrested opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko on a new criminal charge, her lawyer said Friday, even as the European Union prepared to send an envoy to Kiev to try to save a summit later this month.
The new charge against Tymoshenko relates to alleged tax evasion and theft of government funds between 1996 and 2000 when she led the gas intermediary Unified Energy Systems.
Tymoshenko's lawyer, Sergiy Vlasenko, said the legal move to "rearrest" his client showed that the authorities intended to keep her behind bars indefinitely. In Brussels, a spokeswoman said EU commissioner Stefan Fuele, the bloc's point man on Ukraine, would visit Kiev on Dec. 12.
(Reuters)
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