The release of Yulia Tymoshenko should be the Ukrainian government’s next step in ending the selective prosecution of their political opponents, Members of the European Parliament Rebecca Harms (Group of the Greens, Germany) and Charles Tannock (European Conservatives and Reformists Group, Great Britain) have said, according to the Official web site of Yulia Tymoshenko.
"After the court’s ruling in Strasbourg, I think it’s impossible to compromise on the issue of selective justice, at least in the case of Tymoshenko," Rebecca Harms said during a meeting of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs in Brussels attended by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara.
The MEP emphasized that the European Court of Human Rights held that the law was broken when Yulia Tymoshenko was arrested and detained during the trial involving gas deals with Russia.
In his turn, Charles Tannock underscored that the European Conservatives and Reformists Group in the European Parliament supports closer ties between Ukraine and the EU through the signing of an association agreement, but insists on Yulia Tymoshenko’s release. "Our party and group are very much in favor of bringing Ukraine closer to the European Union, but we continue to object to selective justice and call for the release of Yulia Tymoshenko," he said.
The Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine Ambassador Jan Tombinski recently stated that Yulia Tymoshenko’s release from jail remains one of the conditions for the signing of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement and expressed hope that the issue will be resolved by the time of the Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius.
