If Serhiy Vlasenko, a member of the defense team of imprisoned former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, is jailed, the Association Agreement between the European Union and Ukraine will not be signed, Member of the European Parliament Rebecca Harms said on Channel 5 on March 6.
“Since his deputy powers were stripped, Vlasenko could be persecuted
as (former Ukrainian Interior Minister Yuriy) Lutsenko and Tymoshenko
were. If he is jailed, I don’t see a single chance that the Association
Agreement is signed,” the MEP said.
Harms stressed that if Ukraine sticks with selective judgment of
political opponents, the EU would introduce sanctions against the
Ukrainian authorities.
As reported, on March 6, 2013, the Higher Administrative Court of Ukraine ruled to annul Vlasenko’s parliamentary mandate.
Thus, the court upheld a relevant lawsuit of Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Rybak.
Rybak explained his appeal to the court by the fact that Vlasenko practices advocacy and is a people’s deputy at the same time.
Vlasenko is a member of the defense team of jailed former Ukrainian
Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in a number of criminal cases against
her.
