The heads of several Christian churches have asked Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych to show mercy on Easter Sunday and pardon the country's former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who was sentenced to seven years in prison for abuse of power.
“It was with joy and hope that we heard the news on Annunciation Day of the president’s decision to pardon Yuriy Lutsenko and Heorhiy Filipchuk. This charitable deed by the president became a serious step to repair the consequences of selective justice in our state,” the opposition Batkivschyna party said on Thursday, citing the church heads’ message to Yanukovych.
Without interfering in state affairs, the church calls for forgiveness, mercy and love for other people, the message says.
“Pardoning Yulia Volodymyrivna Tymoshenko and releasing her from prison would celebrate these godly virtues,” it says.
The message was signed by head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and Kyiv Patriarch Filaret, Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church head Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church Metropolitan Mefodiy, Evangelical Baptist Union of Ukraine President Viacheslav Nesteruk, Ukrainian Christian Church of Evangelical Faith Bishop Mykhailo Panochko, and Roman Catholic Church in Ukraine Archbishop Petro Malchuk.
The Ukrainian president has also received similar requests from representatives of almost all regions of the country, as well as diplomats, lawyers, political scientists, experts, renowned Ukrainian doctors and archbishops of Ukraine’s churches.
