Tymoshenko blasts Ukraine's leaders

ROUGH CUT - NO REPORTER NARRATION

Yulia Tymoshenko, the jailed opponent of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich, called on Friday (September 28) her country's government a criminal regime which should be ousted in the upcoming October parliamentary elections.

The address was taped by her supporters in the hospital where she is being treated.

A Ukrainian court sentenced Tymoshenko to seven years in prison on abuse-of-office charges last October in a case criticised by the West as an example of selective justice, straining Kiev's relations with Brussels and Washington.

Tymoshenko, who has denied any wrongdoing, accused Yanukovich of using the legal system to carry out a personal vendetta against her.