Ukraine's presidential pardon commission has unanimously rejected an appeal for pardoning jailed former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, the president's office said.
The appeal, turned down at Saturday’s commission meeting, had been submitted by “women people’s deputies” (women lawmakers), said commission chairman Hennadiy Vasyliev.
The presidential pardon act can only apply to convicts, whereas Tymoshenko is still a defendant in “three criminal cases,” Vasyliev explained.
“In view of the fact that, on three criminal cases, there still are no court verdicts on whether she is guilty or innocent, we considered it necessary to ask research institutions for their conclusions whether the presidential act on pardon – a humanity act – was applicable under such circumstances,” he said.
Conclusions from the research institutions underlay the commission’s vote to deny pardon to Tymoshenko, according to Vasyliev.
“The commission members were arguing: supposing on the cases that are at the moment undergoing court trial or pretrial investigations, the courts decided that she was guilty and ordered a specific prison term as punishment, how would the injured party see it?” Vasyliev said.
“I believe that in this instance the Ukrainian presidential pardon commission made the only correct decision, and we will appeal to the president not to apply the pardon act to Yulia Tymoshenko,” he said.
Vasyliev said proposals for pardoning eight people were considered at Saturday’s meeting, and that the commission decided to recommend pardoning two of them.
