Ukrainian political analysts have said Ukraine's former prime minister and leader of the Batkivschyna party Yulia Tymoshenko will probably be sentenced to imprisonment.
"Judging from the way the trial and the internal political situation around the trial are evolving, the sharp criticism of Yulia Volodymyrivna [Tymoshenko] is increasing," Director of the Penta Center for Applied Political Research Volodymyr Fesenko said at a press conference on Monday.
According to the analyst, the charges brought against Tymoshenko are such that the ex-premier is unlikely to get a mild sentence. He noted that it was impossible to grant an amnesty to Tymoshenko for the crimes she has been charged with.
Fesenko predicted that there are two ways out of the current situation – either to change the charges, or return the criminal case for further investigation. At the same time, he stressed that to return Tymoshenko’s criminal case for further investigation was theoretically possible, but would require "political will."
"As for Tymoshenko being convicted – this is quite possible," the analyst said.
Director of Kyiv Center for Political and Conflict Studies Mykhailo Pohrebynsky disagreed. According to him, the Criminal Code clearly states that a judge may impose a sentence less than that envisaged by a relevant article of the Criminal Code.
"I believe this is the best option both for the authorities, and for Tymoshenko. I think it is quite possible," Pohrebynsky said.
In turn, director of the Ukrainian Barometer Sociological Service Viktor Nebozhenko said he believed that Tymoshenko would get a prison sentence.
"As for Tymoshenko, it’s obvious she’ll go to prison," Nebozhenko said.
In this regard, the expert said that there might be a threat to Tymoshenko’s life.
"At this point we have to ask whether the same thing that happened to Georgy Gongadze could happen to her," Nebozhenko said.
According to the expert, if this happens, it will lead to a political crisis similar to that faced by Ukraine’s second president, Leonid Kuchma (1994-2005), and current President Viktor Yanukovych will be accused of not being able to guarantee Tymoshenko’s safety in jail.
