AFP/Kiev

A picture taken on June 24 shows Yevgenia Carr and her husband Sean Carr (left) leaving Pechersk district court in Kiev. Yevgenia has made several appearances to support her mother since
Tymoshenko’s arrest for contempt of court earlier this month stunned Ukraine
The daughter of Ukraine’s imprisoned opposition leader made an emotional plea in court yesterday for her mother’s freedom, but the judge ruled that Yulia Tymoshenko must stay in jail.
Yevgenia Carr, who is married to a British rock musician, has made several appearances to support her mother since the former prime minister’s arrest for contempt of court earlier this month stunned Ukraine. But these were her first comments at the trial.
“The life and freedom of my mother depend on your decision. So please support the request to free my mum,” Carr, who shares her mother’s looks and sense of glamour, told the court.
“People would see that the court works and acts within a framework of freedom and human rights,” she added.
She was backing the seventh motion by the defence to free her mother. As with the previous motions, judge Rodion Kireyev rejected the latest request, saying there were no grounds to release Tymoshenko.
The former premier’s daughter had married Sean Carr in 2005 after meeting the British death metal singer while studying at the London School of Economics and he moved to Kiev, reportedly with his Harley Davidson motorcycle and rottweiler in tow.
Since then his band DVS (Death Valley Screamers) has become famous in Ukraine and much better known than in his native Britain.
Tymoshenko risks being jailed for up to 10 years if convicted of abuse of power over gas deals she signed with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in 2009 which ended a standoff that cut supplies to several European countries.
The former presidential candidate has always maintained she is the victim of a political vendetta pursued by Viktor Yanukovich after defeating her and other leaders of the 2004 “Orange Revolution” in 2010 elections.
Also prominent at the court hearings since her arrest has been Tymoshenko’s husband Olexander who had all but disappeared from view after her election defeat at the hands of Yanukovich.
Analysts believe family is a potent weapon in helping Tymoshenko argue that the trial against her is a political process.
Yesterday’s court hearing saw testimony by Energy Minister Yuriy Boiko, but it still remains unclear if former president Viktor Yushchenko will appear. Ukrainian media have reported he was called as a witness but refused to appear.
The European Union and United States have expressed alarm over Tymoshenko’s detention, which comes as Ukraine prepares to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its independence next week.
In an emotional article penned from her prison cell for the Ukrainska Pravda online newspaper, Tymoshenko thanked the West for its reaction to the “persecution of the opposition” in Ukraine.
She said it was “Yanukovich and his clan” who stood on the brink of international isolation and not Ukraine itself.
Earlier however, activists from Ukraine’s scandalous FEMEN group staged a topless protest in a show of anger against the entire political class, apparently including Tymoshenko.
Two young women climbed on the roof of a police truck parked in the courthouse area and quickly stripped from the waist up – and were arrested.
“We are against attempts to present this squabble between two criminal gangs as a battle between good and evil,” FEMEN said in a press release.
The group called on Ukrainians to “fill the police trucks with bandits” from both the government and the opposition who have “ransacked Ukraine with impunity for 20 years” since its independence.