You're reading: A day of name-calling, finger-pointing and no deal to free Tymoshenko

They came, they shouted, they left without coming to an agreement. 

“Clowns!”

“I’m fed up!”

“Stop trolling!” 

“Do you consider us idiots?”

“This is legislative
impotence.” 

These were some
of the words uttered during a special parliament committee working group meeting
on Nov. 12, during which lawmakers discussed the issue of releasing imprisoned former Prime Minister
Yulia Tymoshenko, a precondition set forth by the European Union in
order for Ukraine to sign a far-reaching political and free trade pact with the
28-member bloc later this month.

But after
hours of arguing, name-calling and exchanging allegations of hindering Ukraine’s
westward progress, members of the special parliamentary group failed to draft
legislation that would allow the opposition leader to be sent abroad
for medical treatment. She currently suffers from a spinal hernia and severe
back pain.

Tymoshenko
has served more than two years of her seven-year sentence. She was convicted in
2011 of abusing her powers when she brokered a gas deal with Russia, a case
widely seen as being politically motivated.

The working
group met on the eve when a report by two European envoys – former president of
European Parliament Pat Cox and former President of Poland Alexander
Kwasniewski – will be delivered concerning Ukraine’s progress on meeting
conditions the EU set for signing the landmark free trade and association
agreement.

Ukraine
hopes to sign the deal at an Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius on Nov.
28-29. European leaders made clear that Ukraine will not sign the association
deal with Ukraine if Tymoshenko, the main political rival of President Viktor
Yanukovych, remains in prison.

But the
chances of her release are looking more and more illusory.

Yanukovych
promised on Oct. 18 that he would sign a law allowing Tymoshenko to go for
medical treatment abroad if the country’s parliament adopts a bill allowing as
much. But none of the half dozen draft laws proposed in parliament so far have
received majority approval. So lawmakers, after consulting with the Cox-Kwasniewski
mission, decided to develop a joint law through a working group formed by
representatives of all political factions.

On Nov. 12,
the opposition brought a new draft law written overnight and based on
discussions inside the working group the day before to the table for debate. The
bill prescribes that a convicted person may be released by court decision for
medical treatment abroad if they have spent more than a year in a hospital
without improvement, and if their disease poses a serious threat to life or
health. It also states that foreign medical treatment should be paid for by the
person’s family and that time spent in treatment should count toward time
served.

But
representatives of the pro-presidential Party of Regions claimed this bill contradicted
what had been agreed upon before. “Termination in serving of prison term and
release from prison are absolutely different things,” the Party of Regions’
Inna German told opposition lawmakers. “Why are you making us look like
clowns?”

“You are
writing miserable draft laws,” Regions Party deputy Volodymyr Oliynyk added.

“So propose
you own bill,” argued Iryna Gerashchenko of opposition party Ukrainian Alliance
for Reform (UDAR).

The
discussion concluded with fierce argument and without even a decision as to whether
the lawmakers were going to continue discussions the next day.

Andriy
Kozhemyakin of Tymoshenko’s Batkivshchyna party said that the opposition will register
its bill for an extraordinary parliamentary session on Nov. 13. However, lawmakers
left the meeting room still believing that parliament will not be able to pass
any law allowing for Tymoshenko’s release during the special parliament
session. On their way out, they continued accusing their political opponents of
dashing chances of signing an association deal with the EU.

In the end
opposition lawmakers blamed President Viktor Yanukovych for the legislative
deadlock.

“(Yanukovych’s)
phobia (of Tymoshenko) is not allowing (us) to move on,” Gennady Moskal,
lawmaker of Batkivshchyna said. “And we have all become hostages of this
phobia.”

Kyiv Post staff writer
Oksana
Grytsenko can
be reached at
[email protected].