But he’s going to have to do more than the dramatic partial step toward justice and humanity he took by pardoning on April 7 two allies of imprisoned ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.
He will have to free Tymoshenko as well. And he will have to show by the end of May to the EU that he is not only ending political persecution, but making progress on creating an independent judiciary and improving election laws to ensure democratic contests in the future. I don’t see much tangible progress on those fronts, at least in the next two months.
It’s much easier to give Yanukovych credit for the freedom of ex-Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko and ex-Ecology Minister Heorhiy Filipchuk, two of six prisoners set free by Yanukovych in the same presidential pardon.
Both were convicted and imprisoned for what the West saw as trumped-up political charges of “abuse of office” – Lutsenko for overcompensating his driver, Filipchuk on cheating the state involving the sale of emissions under the Kyoto Protocol.
However, Lutsenko still faces other criminal investigations of dubious quality — failing to investigate ex-President Viktor Yushchenko’s dioxin poisoning in 2004. Given Ukraine’s politically malleable and untrustworthy courts, Lutsenko could conceivably end up in prison again.
But Lutsenko, who his lawyers say is suffering cirrhosis, hepatitis, portal hypertension and other illnesses, is likely to stay free for reasons other than his poor health.
Simply put, Lutsenko represents no political threat to Yanukovych the way that Tymoshenko does. So Yanukovych calculated the realities and came up with a decision that shows him as a humanitarian without actually acknowledging that the criminal conviction lacks credibility. It’s a wonder he didn’t pardon Lutsenko earlier.
If Yanukovych is concerned with prisoner health, he should be pardoning Tymoshenko as well. Her condition has deteriorated in the nearly two years she’s been in prison, with back and other ailments. The charge for which she is convicted — signing a gas deal with Russia in 2009 — is blatantly bogus in the eyes of the West. She should be set free to restore her health and allow her to better defend herself against the coming criminal charges that she ordered the 1996 murder of member of parliament Yevhen Shcherban. That case, in the pre-trial investigation stage, appears to be falling apart. But lack of evidence doesn’t stop convictions anyway in Ukraine’s courts.
If Yanukovych wants to be signing a trade and political association agreement with the EU in Vilnius, Lithuania, this fall, he should unconditionally set Tymoshenko free without delay.
I am guessing that he won’t because he still feels threatened by her. There also appears to be a genuine hatred of her in the Yanukovych administration. If he keeps her in prison, however, the pardons of Lutsenko and Filipchuk alone will not help much in the eyes of the EU. At least I hope not. The West should demand much more from Yanukovych in righting wrongs.
And an initial tweet by European Union Commissioner For Enlargement Stefan Fuele suggest as much. Fuele on April 7 tweeted that he welcomed the release of Lutsenko and Filipchuk, but called it only a “first but important step” in dealing with selective justice.
There are many more steps to take.
Kyiv Post chief editor Brian Bonner can be reached at [email protected].
