Arseniy Yatseniuk said in parliament that Viktor Yanukovych had promised to sign a draft law to solve the Tymoshenko issue but neither him nor the Party of Regions had submitted such draft law. So, the three opposition factions submitted theirs. According to the opposition’s draft law, individuals who have fallen victim to selective justice or violation of Art. 18 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms as specified by international courts and respective bodies of international organizations are entitled to pardon or amnesty. If passed, this draft law could ensure full amnesty for Yulia Tymoshenko which could free her from the sentence of seven years in prison and the ban to serve in government authorities for three years.
This draft law allows Viktor Yanukovych to save his face, Batkivshchyna’s MP Roman Zabzaliuk said on Channel 5, and called on the Ukrainian President to fulfill the commitments negotiated with the Cox-Kwasniewski mission.
Also, he commented on Yanukovych’s attempts to transfer responsibility for the fate of Tymoshenko to the legislature. “Please, the opposition has submitted a draft law stating clearly that Tymoshenko’s rights were strongly violated under Art. 18 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Plus, there is a respective decision of the European Court of Human Rights on this issue,” he said.
In Zabzaliuk’s opinion, two other draft laws on medical treatment of inmates abroad submitted to the Verkhovna Rada on October 21 and 22 by non-aligned MPs, are provocative. “Only our draft law once again allows the Ukrainian President to save face after the commitments negotiated with the European Parliament mission,” Zabzaliuk claimed.
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On October 21, the European Parliament’s mission of Pat Cox and Aleksander Kwasniewski visited Ukraine to discuss the change of Viktor Yanukovych’s position on the Yulia Tymoshenko case.
However, the Pardoning Commission under the Presiden did not consider the Tymoshenko issue during its latest meeting on October 24. According to First Deputy Minister of Justice Inna Yemelianova, the Commission did not consider it because there were no respective requests. Before the meeting, Party of Regions’ Serhiy Hrynevetskyi said that this issue would not be considered since there are no grounds for pardoning Tymoshenko “given the graveness of the crime she committed” and earlier denial in April.
Since the beginning of this year, 53 requests of pardon for Tymoshenko have been sent to President Yanukovych.
The next visit of the Cox-Kwasniewski mission is scheduled for October 29-31. The experts will visit Kyiv and Kharkiv.
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