Ukraine's opposition leader and former premier Yulia Tymoshenko, sentenced to a seven-year jail term in 2011 for abuse of power, has been released.
Tymoshenko waved to her supporters as she was driven out of a hospital where she had been placed under guard while being treated for severe back injury, an AFP correspondent said today.
Hundreds of supporters chanted "Free Yulia" as the fierce rival to embattled President Viktor Yanukovych drove past in dramatic scenes laden with heavy political consequences for Ukraine.
Her political ally Arseniy Yatsenyuk told the Interfax news agency that Tymoshenko was heading directly to central Kiev's Independence Square, occupied by anti-government protesters since November.
