Tymoshenko's Case

"LandepNews"

Tymoshenko's Case

Negotiations between Ukraine and the European Union have collapsed on Monday as the European body demanded as a precondition for further talks the release of former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who has been sentenced in October to seven years in prison for abuse of power.
Tymoshenko was sentenced for the gas deal she brokered on behalf of Ukraine in 2009, considered a very bad one for the eastern European country. Tymoshenko was detained after she was accused of contempt of court during her first presence in court.
She refused to show proper respect to the judge, and to the court. She also claimed that her trial was politically motivated, and that she was innocent. Hundreds of people protested in front of the court house, showing their support for Tymoshenko.
The European leaders claim that Tymoshenko’s trial was political and refused to sign a free trade agreement because of it, considering that the observance of political rights in Ukraine was not according to the European standards.
Ukraine’s admission to the EU was on a fast track until the Tymoshenko case became a national problem. The regime of president Yanukovych was determined to integrate the country in the European bloc, thus taking away from Tymoshenko the political toy with which the Orange Revolution won the hearts of Ukrainians a few years back.
The president said that it was a possibility to release her if the abuse of power were to be stricken out of the penal code of the country, which did not happen in the parliament.
Ukraine signed a free trade agreement with Russia and Belarus, a gesture seen as a first step to which can become an alternate solution to the EU integration. Putin’s Eurasian Union is counting on the Ukraine.

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