Mystery illness that disfigured the face of Ukraine's opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko ;

Doctors will spend the weekend examining him to assess whether his illness was caused by poisoning.
Mr Yushchenko was taken ill in September and resumed his presidential campaign with a pock-marked face - a marked difference in his appearance.
Fraud marred the poll so the second round is being re-run on 26 December.
The Supreme Court ordered the re-run after the opposition, backed by foreign observers, reported massive fraud in the 21 November vote.

news.bbc.co.uk...

Russian TV channels and spin doctors close to the Kremlin portray Mr Yushchenko as an agent of the West who would plunge Ukraine into civil war.
However, Mr Yushchenko has never indulged in anti-Russian rhetoric and gets praise and support from Russian liberal politicians.
Is this just a strange coincidence or is there more to it.The pictures show clearly he has suffered some sort of poisining....

[edit on 10-12-2004 by Horus_Re]