Washington is concerned about the politicization of the legal system in Ukraine, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Thomas Melia has said.
"We are concerned about the politicization of the legal system, which is indeed happening. Ukraine is a complicated country, a country we would like to be good friends with, but the rapprochement with Ukraine is rather complicated by several trends that we can see," he told reporters in Brussels on Wednesday on his way to Kyiv.
In particular, commenting on the criminal case against former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, the deputy assistant secretary of state said that the name of the politician is not important, it’s the general trend of the prosecution of former government officials, who are now in opposition, that matters.
This raises the question of whether the legal system is indeed controlled by political processes, he said. According to the official, it is not so important whether it concerns Tymoshenko or not, compared to the general context of the events in Ukraine. He said that all this affects relations between the United States and Ukraine.
Commenting on the granting of political asylum by the Czech Republic to former Ukrainian Economy Minister Bohdan Danylyshyn and the possible isolation of the Ukrainian authorities in this connection, the deputy assistant secretary said that the United States is a long way from holding discussions about the isolation of the Ukrainian government. However, the Czech government’s decision should be a signal showing how Europe and the international community views these processes, he said, noting that existing problems would be discussed during his visit to Ukraine.
Melia expressed confidence that Ukraine’s success depends on the reliability of its legal system. It affects the international investments, the prestige of Ukraine in the world, he said.
The U.S. representative also noted that the dialogue with the Ukrainian authorities is very active and frank. In particular, he recalled that in July 2010 a working group on democracy was set up, which has already held a meeting with the representatives of several ministries.
