"The European Union said on Thursday it had reached a technical agreement with Ukraine on a free trade deal, but linked its implementation on Kyiv's treatment of the jailed former prime minister and opposition leader, Yulia Tymoshenko."
Rather than a softer mattress and warmer radiator..pineapple chunks for dessert..hot cocoa before bed....'treatment' surely means release from jail, no?
Yesterday, president Yanukovych was interviewed on television. He commented only once, unprompted, on the Tymoshenko fiasco:
"[As for the] Tymoshenko case ... I am convinced that time will pass - and everything will stand its own place. If she is innocent - the court will make a decision, and this will be the decision of the court. If she is guilty - she will bear responsibility. So I do not even want to comment. This process will, at the end of the day, eventually come to an end."
Tymoshenko, as every man and his dog knows, was found guilty on October 11th and sentenced to seven years in jail for her crimes, so how come the "if she is innocent"?
It seems to me Yanukovych's Freudian slip reveals she is being used a bargaining chip or hostage in the Russian vector/EU vector game, while at the same time her political career is being destroyed - she may well be innocent after all...
Maybe he even admires his adverary. Unlike him and his buddies she did not run for the hills like a timid rabbit, as they did in 2004, even though this was suggested to her by intermediaries..
Some commentators, with the best interests of Ukraine at heart, and out of geopolitical considerations, say the EU should perhaps cast a blind eye onto what is going on in the country and allow Ukraine to sign up to the club.
I googled "Why was the EU founded?" This is what came up top :
"The overall aim of the EEC/EU, since its foundation in 1958, is to promote peace; the values of human rights; democracy; equality; the rule of law; and the well-being of its peoples. These values are the bedrock of the EU’s work and its role in the world....
The European Union is a unique body. No other part of the world has such an organisation whose mission is to bring countries together to pursue shared interests and values."
Nothing to do with geopolitics, my friends.
3 comments:
Guilty of what? Goevrning without a permit?
teh allegatsion brought agsint Tymoshenkon arose from allegastion made by Victor Yushchenko, Urkaine's former president. If Yushchenko was sincere and concerned that Tymoshenko, as leader of the Government had no authority to sign a gas supply agreement with Russia then he should have refered this to the Ukrainian courts for ajudication.
Questions of jurisdictional authority are common before the courts in the west. They do not equate to criminal activity.
What is the crime Tymoshenko had committed? where is the criminal intent?
If acting without jusisdiction is a crime then why has Yushchenko not been charged and convicted?
IN 2007 Yushchenko misused and abused his authority. He dismissal of Ukraine's former parliament was uncionctit=ional as was his illegal interference in the operation and independence of Ukraine's Constitutional Court. Yushchenko's actions caused seven months of political and civil unrest, denied Ukrainians their constitutional rights and caused untold economic hardship. Yushchenko as a result undermined confidence in the democratic process and to a large extent he is responsible for the events that are unfolding in Ukraine today.
The point I was trying to make was that although the Tymoshenko trial was a show-trial intended to extinguish her political career, [she should be judged by the electorate for her political decisions], she was, nevertheless found guilty of crimes in a court of law. And yet Yanukovych suggested she might be innocent, which struck me as being rather odd..He is playing a game here for the benefit of western critics..
I believe that it is finally dawning on Ukraine's current rulers that play time is over...If Tymoshenko is not released in the next few weeks, then there will be no Euro-goodies handed out..
Petro Poroshenko made an excellent presentation about this last night http://lb.ua/news/2011/10/22/120595_TV.html
Thanks. But I can still not see what the crime was. The allegations made against Tymoshenko were initiated by Yushchenko back in 2009. Yushchenko has asserted that Tymoshenko as leader of the government had no authority to sign a gas supply agreement with Russia.
If Yushchenko was sincere in his belief, why did he not refer the question of jurisdiction to the Courts for judicial review?
This sought of question is commonly refered to the courts in the west. If the courts find that the government had no authority or that there was a error in law then they strike out the agreement. The government is not charged with a criminal act. I think it is wrong to claim or even present the allegations made by Yushchenko that Tymoshenko's actions constitute a crime. If that was the case, then Yushshenko's breaches against Ukraine's Constitution back in 2007 would be considered a crime and he should also be placed under arrest and tried for his criminal transgression against the people of Ukraine. Then there is the arbitrary question of the amount of money that Tymoshenko has to pay the state... How did they calculate this sum?
The best outcome that Yanukovych can hope for now is that the court of appeal deals with this matter judiciously and acquits Tymoshenko and the state is left having to compensate her for their transgressions. Either way Yanukovych's presidency has suffered a major blow and tactical error, one that he is unlikely to recover from. If Tymoshenko is exonerated then she will come back and target Yanukovych and Yushchenko. We can expect another round of revelations and exposure of what goes on at the highest level in ukrainian politics.
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