Take your hands off Tymoshenko!

[Gotno Gizmo]

The recent sentencing of Yulia Tymoshenko with a 7 year jail term for exceeding her authority over gas purchasing contracts is a puzzling affair. Is this some form of propoganda ploy, within which President Yanukovych can at some time in the future organise her release and freedom within the appearance of a magnanimous gesture as being a compassionate president?
This affair is doing little to improve Ukraine's relationship with the west, if indeed the current administration is genuinely interested in improving these relations.
If Yulia Tymoshenko is allowed to spend a significant term in jail it will set a precedent for the future to which current Ukrainian politicians may find themselves held accountable for their found misdemeanours in the same way.
There is an old English saying "People who live in glass houses must not stones".

[stepanstas]

I agree completely with that saying Gotno. As I explained to one of my coworkers, I'm not saying Tymoshenko should not be in jail, but I'd rather have the grand thief in jail instead of just his twin.

To be fair, arresting her for overstepping her grounds while negotiating a gas deal sounds silly. I think its clear the interest of Ukraine was her side in the negotiations.

[AkMike]

It appears that more serious charges are being made soon. Possibly a contract murder!

[AkMike]

It sounds like she's getting into more and more trouble!

I don't understand the EU getting so upset over this! IF this had happened in any other country of the world it would have been no big deal and would have faded from the news rapidly.


Ukrainian prosecutors expect "foreseeable" ruling on Tymoshenko's appeal (updated)
Oct 29 at 11:48 | Interfax-Ukraine The Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office expects that the Kyiv Appeals Court will hand down a "foreseeable" ruling on an appeal by former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko against her conviction under a criminal case dealing with the 2009 Ukrainian-Russian gas supply contracts, Ukrainian First Deputy Prosecutor General Renat Kuzmin said on Inter television channel on Friday. He also voiced hope that more convictions against Ukraine's former Prime Minister would follow.

"We [the Prosecutor General's Office] have received the appeal, and state prosecutors are studying its substantiation. On the whole, we hope for quite a foreseeable decision," Kuzmin said.

The Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine hopes that Tymoshenko will be also convicted under other criminal cases, Kuzmin added.

"These cases have not fallen apart. They have been finished, and they are being examined. Yulia Volodymyrivna [Tymoshenko] and her lawyers are examining these cases. By the way, [Tymoshenko's] lawyer [Serhiy] Vlasenko has not appeared to examine the cases. They are in the main investigative office, and after the defendant and her defense lawyers examine the cases, they will be submitted for consideration by court, and I hope that we will get a verdict on these cases too," he said, while commenting on criminal cases opened by the Prosecutor General's Office against Tymoshenko regarding funds received under the Kyoto Protocol, as well as the purchase of ambulances.

As reported, apart from the case involving gas contracts signed with Russia in 2009, the Prosecutor General's Office opened two other criminal cases against Tymoshenko: one involving the misuse of funds that Ukraine received under the Kyoto Protocol, and another involving the purchase of ambulances for rural hospitals.

The investigation into the criminal cases connected with the Kyoto money and ambulance purchases were suspended pending the end of the "gas case," but they could be restarted if the court issues a relevant order.

A new criminal case has also been opened against Tymoshenko on charges of reassigning the United Energy Systems of Ukraine corporation's debts to the Ukrainian budget. Kyiv's Pechersky Court found Tymoshenko guilty of abuse of office in concluding the said gas contracts with Russia and sentenced her to seven years in prison on October 11. Tymoshenko and her lawyers have appealed the sentence. The ex-prime minister's conviction has drawn criticism from the leaders and policymakers of most Western countries.

Kyiv Post. Independence. Community. Trust - Ukraine - Ukrainian prosecutors expect "foreseeable" ruling on Tymoshenko's appeal (updated)

[bkrevel]

Ak Mike

IntUkr is not a news agency......It is a paid for publisher of Por press releases......

I do not understand why KP uses IntUkr to print 80% of news stories.....some are so blatantly biased, they are ridiculous......eg....Yanuk announces Ukraine centre of world investment and country is booming!!! Hello...

One must keep this in mind.......

Yulia has made many mistakes......and like her or not.......


She , thru her stalin trial, has done more to keep Yanuk in check this past year,,,,,,then the opposition.

Now that she is incomunacado......Yanuk and his goons will totally consolidate their hold.....

He has proven that he has no intentions of listining to the will of he people.....and does as he pleases...

The only solution is.......... revolution.........

[stepanstas]

The real question is, can the west join together without her in the picture now. While she had a lot of supporters, she ultimately split the vote.

[Max_the_Highlander]

Hello everybody, long time no see. I've been pretty busy with my own affairs but now due to second wave of crisis I have a little bit more of free time.

Well I would like to start exactly where I finished. Tymoshenko, Yushchenko, Yanukovich - they all are one big stinky mess. They invented that morbid system of colors like orange, white, and blue, only to look different. Applying only moral qualities criteria, no one will ever distinguish them.

Is Tymoshenko guilty and is her place in jail? Of course. Is she a victim of political prosecution? Sure. It’s an alligator eating a crocodile, if she got power instead of present President, we'd see a crocodile eating an alligator.

Under Yushchenko, there was public meeting of Litvin, Tymoshenko and Yanukovich and he said them phrase that is my nightmare. It was "You all will be Presidents in due time". I'm afraid it was damned prophecy and we can get Tymoshenko’s presidency after Yanukovich. Obviously, they will not calm down until they trample the Ukraine down.

I personally support neither of them, as for me, the only new road is new names and faces, that's why I’m for Klitchko and Yatsenyuk, and especially for Klichko and his UDAR (STRIKE).