You're reading: Pshonka’s Office: Freedom House’s report about selective prosecution in Ukraine biased

The conclusions made by the U.S.-based human rights NGO Freedom House concerning the selective prosecution of opposition figures in Ukraine are biased and not objective, the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine reported.

“Representatives of Freedom House met with the leadership of the
Prosecutor General’s Office and spoke personally with the prosecutor
general of Ukraine. They have literally received the full information
about the criminal cases they were interested in,” the head of the PGO’s
department for supervision over observance of legislation in the
execution of judgments, Vadym Horan, said after the presentation of the
report by Freedom House.

According to him, the meeting left no questions, to which PGO
officials hadn’t given their answers. “Therefore, the representatives of
the Freedom House could make sure that the charges against [Ukraine’s
former prime minister Yulia] Tymoshenko, [former interior minister
Yuriy] Lutsenko and [former acting defense minister Valeriy] Ivaschenko
have criminal nature. Accordingly, the allegations about Ukraine’s
selective application of justice and alleged prosecution of the
opposition, are at least, biased and partial,” Horan said.

He noted that representatives of Freedom House, for some reason
decided not to take into account the objective information provided by
the Prosecutor General’s Office in their report.

As reported, Freedom House recommends that the Ukrainian government
stop selective prosecutions and pardon the imprisoned leaders of the
opposition in its report on the situation in Ukraine that was presented
in Kyiv on Thursday.

“The government should end selective prosecutions, pardon imprisoned
political leaders without conditions, and allow all opposition figures,
including those currently imprisoned, to contest the parliamentary
elections in October,” reads a report by the organization on the
situation in Ukraine that was presented in Kyiv on July 5.