Europe's concern over the case against ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko is due to the imperfect Ukrainian laws, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych said.
"It is certainly a regretful case, which today is thwarting Ukraine’s European integration. It raises concerns in the European Union and I want to say: we are well aware of why this is so," Yanukovych told journalists on Tuesday.
The Ukraine that my team got in 2010 "had many problems with modernization and harmonization of the Ukrainian laws with the European standards," he said.
My team started this work from the very first days it came to power, Yanukovych said. This also includes drafting a new version of the Criminal Procedural Code, as the current is the 1962 version, he said.
"Given that it is valid, the law enforcement agencies, the justice system and courts are obliged to comply with it, like all Ukrainian citizens," he said.
The current Criminal Procedural Code should be changed, the president said.
The new version has already been drafted and sent for examination to the Venice Commission, he said.
"It is a very large bill that will be examined and passed by the Ukrainian parliament. I am certain that as soon as we accomplish this difficult work, Ukraine will have modern European standards on the issues of law, the freedom of speech and we will comply with it," he said.
