A group of prominent public figures of France have called on Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovych to release from custody ex-premier Yulia Tymoshenko, otherwise they intend to appeal to FIFA requesting the cancelation of the Euro 2012 European Football Championship in Ukraine.
A corresponding statement signed by French sociologists, philosophers, historians, writers and others was published in Le Nouvel Observateur magazine and then quoted on the Web site of the Batkivschyna Party on Thursday.
"Given the efforts the European Union exerts to spread values of solidarity and tolerance, such an act [as the arrest of Tymoshenko] is insulting to every true democrat," the authors of the statement said, adding that they intend to present the case of Tymoshenko in the European Court on Human Rights.
They also made a formal appeal to the European Union High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, Vice-President of the European Commission, Catherine Ashton, urging the EU to review Ukraine’s status in present and near future.
"If all this is not enough to change your position on these unfair conditions of confinement of your compatriot, we will also demand that the International Football Federation (FIFA) cancel the upcoming European Championship, which is to take place on the territory of your country from June 8 until July 1, 2012," the address reads.
