You're reading: Lavrynovych: Tymoshenko cannot be pardoned without her personal request

Ukrainian Justice Minister Oleksandr Lavrynovych has said that former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko cannot be pardoned without her personal request.

 

“The minimum term of serving a sentence and a personal request are
needed for the application of this norm. If this concerns the situation
with health or other issues, the president has the right to sign a
decree on a pardon,” he told journalists in Kyiv on Wednesday.

At the same time, he said that a personal request was still required for a pardon for health reasons.

“If a person does not want to leave prison, nobody can force him or her to leave it,” Lavrynovych said.

Speaking about Tymoshenko’s presence at court sessions, Lavrynovych
said that by law, a person has the right not to attend court sessions.
However, he said, the decision to postpone the consideration of the case
for one reason or another is in the court’s competence.

As reported, Tymoshenko might accept a pardon from Ukrainian
President Viktor Yanukovych, but she will not acknowledge her guilt and
will in any case appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in
order to cancel the verdicts brought against her, her lawyer, MP Serhiy
Vlasenko, said.

At the same time, Vlasenko said that Yanukovych could sign a decree on the pardon at any time.

“According to him [the president], a pardon requires a statement from
Tymoshenko. I will recall you that before October 2010, when Yanukovych
changed this procedure, there was a procedure under which an
application for a pardon could be submitted by any third party. But he
has changed this procedure! Note that a change was made in October, and
the first case was opened against Tymoshenko in November… Today,
Yanukovych has the right to pardon anyone, including Yulia Tymoshenko.
The only thing that has to be done for this is to sign two decrees –
changing the procedure, making it the same as in democratic countries,
and signing a decree on the pardon,” he said.