A member of the presidential commission on pardons, Party of Regions MP Serhiy Hrynevetsky, has said he believes that there are currently no political or legal grounds to pardon former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, the press service of the Party of Regions has reported.
“The issue of the release of Yulia Tymoshenko has already been considered at a meeting of the commission on pardons under the Ukrainian president this spring, and it was rejected. The next meeting will be held on October 24. There are no political and legal grounds for a pardon,” he said.
He also said that it is not entirely correct to compare the cases of former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko and Tymoshenko.
“They are too different in terms of importance, circumstances, consequences, and a degree of guilt. We cannot ‘cure’ selective justice, as they say in Europe, with the same selective pardon,” Hrynevetsky added.
He said he was confident that the option of pardoning the former prime minister is currently unrealistic – there are too many obstacles envisaged by law.
“Ukraine’s justice minister has already stated that Tymoshenko has no right for a pardon and cannot legitimately claim it. An illness cannot serve as the ground for a pardon and departure for treatment abroad, otherwise we will have to pardon all sick prisoners. The question, of course, has to be resolved, but it should be resolved without violating the legal order in Ukraine. And it’s necessary to act solely in the legal field,” he said.
