Pictured: Ukraine opposition leader Yulia
Tymoshenko emotional
reunion with daughter
after release from prison
Eugenia Tymoshenko, daughter of opposition leader Yulia, says she hopes her mother's release from prison will usher in a new era of democracy for Ukraine
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Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko's daughter reacts to mum's release from prison
Photographers captured the emotional moment Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko was reunited with her daughter after being released from prison.
Daughter Eugenia wept tears of joy as she saw her mother for the first time after her two-and-a-half year prison term.
After being released from jail in Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine, Tymoshenko was immediately flown to Kiev to make a speech in front of thousands of supporters in the city's Independence Square.
Yulia Tymoshenko, one of president Viktor Yanukovych's fiercest rivals, was jailed over a controversial deal with Russian energy company Gazprom, in which a court decided she had abused the powers of her office.
Her conviction and detention were widely criticised in the international community. Tymoshenko was described as a 'political prisoner' by a Council of Europe report.
Eugenia described the emotional moment her mother gave her first speech.
"When she went onto the stage the people were screaming to her: 'hero'" She toldRadio France Internationale, "And really they welcomed her as a hero of Ukraine, as one of them. Of course, there were a lot of tears, a lot of emotions."
“She [Yulia] said she was here in the new Ukraine made by the Ukrainian heroes, and she’s proud to be Ukrainian," she said. "I’m also proud to be her daughter, and I just hope that now Ukraine can live better and start a better life for itself, and that politicians will be more accountable to these people.”
Meanwhile, Oleksander Turchinov has been installed as acting president after video footage emerged appearing to show leader Yanukovych fleeing the presidential estate.
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