Report: Tymoshenko's Husband Seeking Asylum in Prague

The husband of Ukraine's jailed former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko sought political asylum in the Czech Republic at the end of last year, a Czech newspaper reported Friday.

Oleksandr Tymoshenko, a 51-year-old businessman who also has a stake in Czech company International Industrial Projects, has a fair chance of getting the asylum, the Pravo daily said.

A year ago, Prague granted asylum to Bogdan Danylyshyn, economy minister in Tymoshenko's government in 2007-2010, causing a row with Ukraine that led to the expulsion of two Czech diplomats for alleged espionage in May 2011.

"We have never commented on asylum proceedings, and we won't do it today either," Czech interior ministry spokesman Pavel Novak told Agece France Presse.

Yulia Tymoshenko, the leader of Ukraine's 2004 Orange Revolution, was sentenced last October to seven years in prison for abuse of power during her time in office.

The case came up just months after she lost a close election to President Viktor Yanukovych.

Her husband seldom appeared in public, until he started to attend Tymoshenko's court hearings after she was taken into custody in August last year, Pravo said.

Tymoshenko's conviction was followed almost immediately by charges of financial crimes, allegedly committed while she was head of the state power company in the 1990s, which could keep her in prison even if the original case against her is overturned.

This case also involves Oleksandr Tymoshenko, who spent a year in custody on charges of embezzlement in 2000-2001 but was freed because of a lack of evidence.

"It cannot be ruled out that (the Ukrainian) authorities have focused on her husband again," Pravo said.

The Tymoshenko affair has sparked tensions between Kiev and the European Union which suspects that the probes against the opposition leader are politically motivated.