KIEV, Feb. 8 – Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, under investigation for alleged abuse of power in 2009, will soon ask prosecutors again to allow her to visit Brussels next month to meet top European politicians.

The authorities twice rejected her requests in January for traveling overseas, each time citing a different reason.

Most recently, on Jan. 31, the prosecutors declined the trip amid concerns that Tymoshenko may leave Ukraine for good to avoid the prosecution. A week earlier, however, they denied the trip because invitations from European leaders had been made in English, not in Ukrainian.

“Let’s see if the Ukrainian authorities again step on the same rake,” Hryhoriy Nemyria, a member of Tymoshenko’s Batkivschyna party who is in charge of her foreign policy, said.

The third refusal for Tymoshenko to attend a summit of the European People’s Party in Brussels in March would cause a wave of international criticism of President Viktor Yanukovych and his government.

Many European politicians, including Buzek, criticized the way the Ukrainian authorities had dealt with Tymoshenko’s investigation so far.

Yanukovych has been already criticized – at home and internationally - for attempting to build an authoritarian regime in Ukraine with anti-democratic methods.

So, just another refusal to let Tymoshenko out of Ukraine would further strengthen the criticism.

“Maybe this is a type of political sadomasochism,” Nemyria said. “But if this happens again [and Tymoshenko’ trip is denied] we will obtain a confirmation that whatever happens in Ukraine has nothing to do with honest and objective justice.”

Tymoshenko is under investigation for alleged abuse of power when she was prime minister in 2009, a charge that she has denied. She said the investigation is politically motivated.

Because of the ongoing investigation, Tymoshenko’s ability to travel is restricted by prosecutors, which means she needs to get permission if she wants to leave the city of Kiev.

The pressure on Tymoshenko intensified late last year after she had repeatedly traveled to Brussels to criticize Yanukovych on international arena.

After one such trip last year, an anonymous caller phoned Tymoshenko and told her that she will “cough up blood” unless she stops criticizing Yanukovych internationally. (tl/ez)