STRASBOURG, France — Lawyers for Ukraine's jailed opposition leader, Yulia Tymoshenko, appealed to Europe's human rights court Tuesday as her only hope for a fair hearing, accusing the government of rigging the criminal case against her. A lawyer for the government denied any political motive and said her complaints about prison conditions and injuries were groundless.
An architect of Ukraine’s 2004 Orange Revolution,
Tymoshenko has been jailed since her arrest in a courtroom in August
2011, accused of negotiating a corrupt gas deal with Russia when she was
prime minister. Supporters of the charismatic leader famed for her
golden braids say she was jailed as the most potent threat to her
political archrival, President Viktor Yanukovich.
Tuesday’s
testimony covered both the mundane questions of prison cell windows and
cold running water, and the significant issues of inmate privacy, abuse
and political retribution. Since the initial charges, the government has
continued to build allegations against Tymoshenko: She went on trial in
June on charges of evading several million dollars in taxes 15 years
ago, and is the subject of a slew of other criminal investigations,
including a murder case.
In April, Tymoshenko went on a hunger
strike in jail, accusing prison guards of punching her in the stomach
and twisting her limbs.
Since then, Western concern over her
arrest has grown, and European leaders boycotted Euro 2012 soccer
matches this summer to protest her detention.
“All this process
has been prearranged and prewritten by the regime,” said Tymoshenko’s
daughter, Eugenia, who attended Tuesday’s hearing.
On Wednesday,
Ukraine’s highest court is scheduled to rule on her detention; previous
rulings have consistently upheld the government, and Eugenia Tymoshenko
said she held out little hope that the next decision would be different.
The
government’s lawyer, Nazar Kulchitsky, denied Yulia Tymoshenko had been
mistreated in prison, saying an inquiry determined that the prominent
bruises were either self-inflicted or simply the manifestation of an
earlier illness. When pressed by a judge, he could not explain how
Tymoshenko could have bruised herself. Kulchitsky said Tymoshenko
repeatedly refused medical treatment while in detention.
He
acknowledged that she had been under video surveillance in violation of
her privacy, but said there were no recordings of her. He offered little
explanation for why Tymoshenko’s cellmate was taken away just before
the time when the former prime minister said she was attacked by the
guards, except to say that she was supposed to undergo a medical check.
After the hearing, Kulchitsky questioned the former prime minister’s allegations that the case against her was political.
“The fact that Tymoshenko was a political figure is not enough to say that she was a victim of political repression,” he said.
He
also denied that Tymoshenko was arrested because she acted
disrespectfully to the court: “The only grounds for her arrest was that
she was trying to hide the truth.”
Tymoshenko’s lawyer, Sergei
Vlasenko, said the case against the former prime minister was rigged and
called on the panel of judges in the European Court of Human Rights to
rule for her. Ukraine, a signatory to the European Convention on Human
Rights, could face penalties if it loses the case.
“There is no
fair judiciary in Ukraine at all , and there is no fair judiciary for
Mrs. Tymoshenko,” he said. “She is absolutely isolated from any
communication with her relatives and with the press. . She asked me to
address you asking help.”
Ukraine’s highest court is scheduled to
rule Wednesday on the gas case, and if the decision goes against
Tymoshenko as her lawyers expect, she will be able to appeal again to
the European court, said Roman Kuybida, an analyst with the Kiev-based
Center for Political and Legal Reforms.
Tymoshenko’s following
remains strong in Ukraine, where demonstrations at the prison in support
of her can grow to thousands of people crying “Freedom for Yulia!”
