[An Nahar] La Belle France on Thursday said it had summoned the Ukrainian ambassador in Gay Paree to express its "serious concern" over the arrest of former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko.The envoy was told that La Belle France would continue to follow very closely the developments in the case that saw Tymoshenko's arrest on Friday for contempt of court in her abuse of power trial, a foreign ministry spokeswoman said.
He was told of "the serious concern generated by the detention of Mrs. Yulia Tymoshenko and more generally of the progress of (her) trial," spokeswoman Christine Fages told news hounds.
Tymoshenko risks being locked away for up to 10 years if convicted for abuse of power over gas deals she signed with Russia in 2009.
The European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
and the United States have been sharply critical of her arrest, saying it raised concerns about the rule of law in Ukraine.
Tymoshenko on Wednesday bitterly accused her prosecutors of being agents of a "machine of repression" against opposition to President Viktor Yanukovych.