YALTA, Ukraine -- Emotions over the case of imprisoned former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko ran so high that some Ukrainians left the room where representatives of the government and the opposition were arguing over her fate.
The Yalta European Strategy forum in Crimea gathered representatives of both sides for a public debate of the issue since Tymoshenko was jailed more than a year ago and sentenced for seven years for abuse of office in a case that is widely considered political. But it became apparent during the discussion that there is no solution in this case that became the most visible demonstration of selective justice in the country.
Representatives of the government argued that the case is legitimate and only means that law is finally being enforced in the country, while the opposition made personal attacks and insisted that the presumption of innocence and many other international norms were violated in this case.
Rinat Kuzmin, deputy prosecutor general, shocked with statements and an authoritative style, outshining even Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, who spoke earlier that day and whose style of speech is often described as “Soviet.”
Kuzmin’s main message was that Tymoshenko is guilty indeed. “The prosecutor has enough grounds to indict Yulia Tymoshenko in new cases,” he said, referring to the case of the murder of member of parliament Yevhen Shcherban in 1996. Later he said, however, that a team of prosecutors still needs to go to the United States to question some key witnesses in this case, particularly former Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko, who is now serving a federal prison sentence in California for money laundering.
In an emotional speech, Tymoshenko’s close ally and former Deputy Prime Minister Hryhoriy Nemyria told the audience why he considers the case political: “Many officials, including the president, announced that Tymsohenko was guilty before the trial even ended. That’s why I consider the case political,” Nemyria said.
He said the courts were clearly prejudiced, as 38 witnesses of prosecution were asked to testify, but only two defense witnesses, for example.
Foreign Minister Kostyantyn Hryshchenko and key Party of Regions speaker Inna Bohoslovska defended the case vigorously. Hryshchenko said Tymoshenko and her team have no case to complain about the courts and not to trust the courts that she had every opportunity to reform as a prime minister.
Bogoslovska said that no prime minister in Europe would allow themselves to forge directives of her government that allowed her to sign a gas agreement with Russia in 2009. She also said that 11 European nations have articles in their legislation that allow criminal prosecution in similar cases.
Carl Bildt, the Swedish foreign minister, countered by saying that an act of signing a similar agreement would not come “anywhere in the vicinity of criminal prosecution” in his native Sweden or other European nations.
The ping-pong of mutual accusations and personal attacks eventually got so intensive that some guests started leaving the room where the discussion was held. Some of them cried out of desperation and realization of how much of a dead end the nation has hit.
Some guests from Europe offered a glimpse of hope for a short-term solution. President of European Commission Jose Manual Barrosso, who plugged into the conference through a video link, was one of them.
The European Union remains firmly committed to embracing Ukraine,” he said. “That’s why we proposed political association and economic integration” by offering Ukraine an unparalleled association agreement.
He went on to list the obstacles to signing this agreement in the current circumstances, including polarized politics, and then hit with what seemed to be the main message for the moment: conduct a free a fair election, allowing free access to the media for all participants.
Barrosso made it clear that the Europeans see no immediate solution to the Tymoshenko problem.
Kyiv Post editor Katya Gorchinskaya can be reached at [email protected].
