KIEV, July 24: Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said on Thursday he believed a former friend was behind the poisoning that disfigured his face and almost killed him during his 2004 election campaign.

Asked during a televised press conference whether David Zhvania, the godfather of his youngest son, was responsible for the poisoning, Mr Yushchenko said: “I think yes. And that is putting it softly.”

Then a presidential election candidate against Moscow-backed rival Viktor Yanukovych, Yushchenko fell seriously ill on Sept 6, 2004. Austrian doctors three months later said it was dioxin poisoning.

The incident helped foment Ukraine’s Orange Revolution protests with which Mr Yushchenko and his allies overturned the result of a rigged election that initially gave Yanukovych as the winner.

On Wednesday Yushchenko deputy Igor Pukshin pointed the finger at Zhvania, who has been questioned by prosecutors as a witness, saying “he insisted on organising the dinner... after which Yushchenko fell ill”. Zhvania, now a deputy for a pro-Yushchenko party, has denied his former friend was poisoned with dioxin, telling the BBC last month that he was the victim of food poisoning and pancreatitis.

On Tuesday, Yushchenko -- whose face is still disfigured by the poisoning -- was himself questioned about the poisoning by prosecutors for over four hours.

He said the investigation was coming to an end and that “amazing things” would be unveiled when it ends.—AFP