Rights at risk
October 14, 2011
Ukraine came under renewed attack Friday, this time from a host of central European nations, over the imprisonment of the country's former leader, Yulia Tymoshenko.
The so-called Visegrad group of former communist states that have since joined the European Union lambasted the government of Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych for its human rights record and the recent trial of Tymoshenko, which they said had indicated Ukraine was moving away from the West.
"Human rights protection is the most important European standard, and while ex-premier Tymoshenko is in prison, we can hardly say Ukraine fulfils European standards," said Poland's Donald Tusk, whose country currently holds the European Union's six-month presidency.
The group pledged to do all it could to block any Ukrainian efforts to integrate into the European Union so long as Tymoshenko remained incarcerated.
"We will be thorough in this matter, because we are bound to be by the history of our nations," Tusk said after meeting his Visegrad counterparts, Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas and Hungary's Viktor Orban, in Prague.
Tymoshenko was found guilty of abuse of power by a Ukrainian court earlier this week and sentenced to seven years' imprisonment over a gas deal signed with Russia in 2009. The verdict came much to the chagrin of the European Union, which intimated the case was politically motivated.
Ukraine has done a fine job of straddling the line between the EU and its traditional partner Russia, but Tymoshenko's trial has even raised question marks in the Kremlin.
New trial?
A new investigation was launched against Tymoshenko by the Ukrainian Security Service on Thursday, over allegations of embezzlement dating back to the 1990s.
Necas said the Visegrad group supported Ukraine's pro-Western drive, "but we can't imagine we would smoothly ratify the [EU] association treaty with Ukraine in a situation wherein ... the legal system doesn't work and when...Tymoshenko is in prison.
"This evokes very serious questions about the extent to which fundamental human rights are being observed in Ukraine," he added.
Slovakia is also a member of the Visegrad group, but its leader, Iveta Radicova, was unable to attend Friday's meeting after her government lost a confidence vote Tuesday. It is expected to be replaced by a caretaker government in the coming weeks.
Author: Darren Mara (AFP, dpa)
Editor: Martin Kuebler