Head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on European Integration Hryhoriy Nemyria (Batkivschyna faction) has said that the decision by the Higher Specialized Court of Ukraine for Civil and Criminal Cases on a cassation appeal lodged by former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko is another step that may suspend prospects for the European integration of Ukraine.
“Unfortunately, one more step was made today through this negative decision concerning the rejection of Lutsenko’s cassation appeal in order to close this window of opportunity for a while,” he said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine, while commenting on the court’s decision on Lutsenko.
He noted that if there were the political will of President Viktor Yanukovych, he could have long ago exercised his constitutional right and introduced amendments to the presidential decree on the pardon procedure.
“It’s unnecessary to adopt any law or government resolution. This is his personal decision,” Nemyria said.
The head of the committee said that this concerns not only Lutsenko, but also former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.
“The situation with Yulia Tymoshenko is much worse,” he said.
Nemyria said that new criminal cases are opened against Tymoshenko, as was with the case on the murder of MP Yevhen Scherban.
In addition, he said that there had recently been one more example of politically motivated justice in Ukraine – the annulment of Serhiy Vlasenko’s parliamentary mandate.
He recalled that Europe should make an assessment of the fulfillment by Ukraine of the necessary criteria in early May 2013. He said that this assessment would depend not only on what decisions the president takes in terms of exercising his constitutional powers, for example, pardoning Lutsenko.
“This concerns the entire complex, which is called politically motivated sentences or selective justice. This concerns Lutsenko, Tymoshenko and Vlasenko, and other cases, including [former Acting Defense Minister Valeriy] Ivaschenko,” Nemyria said.
He also added: “European partners see the issues of politically motivated sentences as a systemic problem.”
As reported, on April 3, the Higher Specialized Court of Ukraine for Civil and Criminal Cases upheld a decision of Kyiv’s Pechersky District Court, which was confirmed by Kyiv’s Court of Appeals, sentencing Lutsenko to four years in prison for committing official crimes, but slightly reduced the amount of money that Lutsenko is obliged to pay the Interior Ministry under a civil action.
The European Commission said earlier that the window of opportunity for signing the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement is still open, but it could close at any moment. Maja Kocijancic, spokesperson for Vice President of the European Commission Catherine Ashton, said this, while commenting on the situation regarding the prospects for the signing of the Association Agreement and the term identified in this connection for visible progress – May 2013.
“The EU has clearly outlined its position: we have a concrete framework for what we would like to happen. We know that certain work should be done. This is where we are at the moment. There is still a window of opportunity, but it will close at some point,” she said.
