The start of the trial of opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko on charges of abuse of power is also the start of a trial of the authorities’ commitment to democracy. So far, they’re failing miserably.

The charge against the former prime minister is that she abused her power by ordering a subordinate to sign a gas deal with Russia without permission from her Cabinet of Ministers. She is also facing investigations into the procurement of ambulances and the alleged misuse of budget funds that should have been assigned to green projects.

Few from Washington all the way to Brussels and beyond Kyiv doubt that the trial against Tymoshenko and the probes into a dozen or so of her allies amount to selective justice.

Given the rampant, pervasive corruption that everyone sees, it is simply unbelievable that of the charges against leading figures, nearly all are against former members of Tymoshenko’s government. The pretense that Yanukovych and others maintain that this is not a political trial is laughable.

Everything that presidential friend General Prosecutor Viktor Pshonka does smacks of political retribution on behalf of Yanukovych and his friends, such as billionaire Dmytro Firtash, whose business interests suffered during Tymoshenko’s two terms as prime minister.

It is hard to be sympathetic toward Tymoshenko. She gained great wealth during a time of extreme poverty for most Ukrainians in the 1990s, allegedly benefitting from sweetheart deals from then-Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko. She denies any wrongdoing.

It was only three years ago when she flirted with the idea of forming an alliance with Yanukovych that would have seen both running the country long-term through a power-sharing pact.

Nevertheless, the circus of her trial cannot be taken seriously as an attempt to fight corruption in Ukraine. It is telling that the first accusations against Tymoshenko’s government were detailed in a presidential Party of Regions-friendly report by three U.S. investigative and legal firms.

That was a show document. This is a show trial.