European Parliament slams Ukraine over Tymoshenko
The European Parliament has strongly criticised the legal and humanitarian situation of the imprisoned former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko.
MEPs strongly protested against a recent decision of the High Court of Ukraine to postpone decision on Tymoshenko’s appeal against her seven-year prison sentence for a political decision she made as the prime minister of the country. European lawmakers condemned delaying the legal proceedings and deplored the use of force against Tymoshenko by prison guards.
Parliamentarians demanded that doctors must be allowed to treat Tymoshenko and insisted that the court proceedings against her are supervised, reminding of the agreement reached last week in Brussels between the Parliament President Martin Schulz and Prime Minister Mykola Azarov. They urged creation of an independent international panel responsible for monitoring of and reporting on possible violations of fundamental rights Tymoshenko’s case, as well as other opposition politicians.
“The democratic struggle for political decisions must take place in parliament — and must not be destroyed by personally or politically motivated acts of criminal prosecution and manipulated judgements in the criminal courts”, MEPs stressed.
Parliamentarians urged European politicians who will not boycott Euro 2012 football matches in Ukraine in June to visit political detainees in prison and to attend in their private capacity.
With the co-operation agreement between the EU and Ukraine put on hold and the next parliamentary elections in Ukraine coming later this year, MEPs pointed out that the current problems in relations can only be solved if the Ukrainian authorities show willingness to carry out the necessary reforms.
At the moment, Tymoshenko has not yet passed a blood test for deep diagnosing. It remains unknown when Tymoshenko, residing now for the 16th day in the Central Clinical Hospital of the Ukrainian Railway under the supervision of Ukrainian and foreign doctors, will hand over all necessary for any diagnosis and treatment of clinical tests. In particular, on 23 May she was not ready to talk to chief doctor Mikhail Afanasyev.
On 23 May, Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, started again discussing release of Tymoshenko. The bill establishing the potential for release of convicted persons from punishment because of illness was included in the agenda of Parliament. According to the text of the document by a court convict can be released from punishment if the convict is seriously ill. At the same time, the convict is sent to a medical facility in Ukraine. However, the pro-government parliamentary majority refuses to accept the document again insisting that it is not going to change the laws of Ukraine for one individual.
Meanwhile, the Tymoshenko case continues to undermine Kyiv’s relations with the West. After a frank appeal of Western politicians to boycott the Euro 2012 in Ukraine and the cancellation of the summit in Yalta, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovuch received yet another diplomatic slap in the face. At the NATO Summit in Chicago on 22 May, German Chancellor Angela Merkel refused to talk with Yanukovych. Standing on the sidelines, Yanukovych spoke with several politicians, while Merkel was close by. The German Chancellor passed by without stopping to talk to him. However, Yanukovych’s adviser and head of the Main Department of International Relations, Andrei Goncharuk, commenting on the incident, said that Yanukovych allegedly did not plan to meet with Merkel. It is worth noting that during the summit, Yanukovych met only three presidents – Romania, Poland and Afghanistan.