MOSCOW — The Czech Republic granted political asylum on Friday to the husband of the jailed Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia V. Tymoshenko, who said he sought refuge to prevent the authorities from putting pressure on her through her family.

The husband, Oleksandr Tymoshenko, left Ukraine late last year and formally applied for asylum shortly before the new year, said Natalya Lysova, a spokeswoman for Ms. Tymoshenko’s Batkivshchyna Party.

The Czech interior minister, Jan Kubice, speaking to journalists in Prague, said the ministry had approved asylum for Mr. Tymoshenko on Friday, Western and Russian news agencies reported.

Ms. Lysova said earlier that Mr. Tymoshenko’s chances had been good “because the whole world has acknowledged a political prosecution of Yulia Vladimirovna Tymoshenko is taking place in Ukraine, and all the European countries and the United States have condemned it.”