Opposition may not support bills to release Tymoshenko for treatment

On Monday draft bills will be submitted to parliament ammending the Criminal Codex to enable prisoners in Ukrainian jails, under certain circumstances, to be released for treatment abroad. The bills could even have their first reading on Tuesday.

Seasoned opposition politician and close associate of Yulia Tymoshenko, Oleksandra Kuzhel, in an interview on RadioSvoboda, says the opposition will not support any bill that contains terms considered humiliating to their leader. She says the opposition will not be making any fresh proposals; their own proposals on amnesties having been submitted over a year ago. Since then have remained untouched.

She says the opposition will only support bills that are in tune with European Commission declarations, as voiced in Kwasniewski and Cox's recent letter to Yanukovych.  [i.e. "Yulia Tymoshenko be released for medical treatment on health and humanitarian grounds by way of a pardon" see previous blog.]

K&C are back in Ukraine tomorrow, for a mind-boggling 23rd time, to try and bang a few heads together.....probably because they realise the draft bills are a 'load of bollocks' and nothing will come of them.

p.s. Readers of the authoritative independent LB.ua website were asked whether they though Yanukovych would release Tymoshenko for the sake of successful signing of the Association Agreement.

61% of those who responded thought he would not.

16% thought he will release her only if she promises never to return back to Ukraine.

10% thought the AA would be signed in any case.

Only 10% thought that things are moving in the direction of her release.

So, in the eyes of LB.ua readers, not looking too good at all..

'The Times' Reports : Hopes fade for leader of Ukraine revolution Yuliya Tymoshenko
The release of Yulia Tymoshenko is key to an EU trade deal
Ben Hoyle Kiev Published at 12:01AM, October 19 2013

The lawyer of the Ukrainian opposition leader Yuliya Tymoshenko is “very, very pessimistic” despite hints from President Yanukovych that she might soon be freed from jail.

Sergei Vlasenko said that he “will believe it only when I see Mrs Tymoshenko physically released”. With a presidential poll due in 2015, Mr Vlasenko said the President was “afraid of her because she is the only person who could beat him even in a falsified election”.

The European Union has made her release a condition of a free trade deal with Ukraine, which would draw the country out of the Russian sphere for...