During the weekend representatives of the Ukrainian opposition held a political forum in the centre of Kyiv. The attending parties discussed the final draft of a resolution representing the united opposition before the upcoming Parliamentary elections. The participants condemned repressions and the deteriorating democracy in Ukraine. The meeting also criticized the situation for human rights in Ukraine, the government’s economic policies, especially those that have led to soaring taxes and an unfavourable pension reforms. (more…)
The Croatian President Ivo Josipovic last week joined European leaders who will not attend a Yalta summit in mid-May. The Croatian president’s office said that one of the reasons for the decision is suspected human rights violations in Ukraine. The news comes after a foreign ministry spokesman in Ukraine said on April 30, that the presidents of Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy and Slovenia has informed Kiev that they will not attend the Yalta meeting of Central and Eastern European leaders on May 11-12.
The boycott of the Yalta meeting reflects mounting concern over the hunger striking opposition leader and the treatment of her in jail. Yulia Tymoshenko was sentenced last fall to seven years imprisonment for abusing power while she was in office. She has denied the allegations. (more…)
The Front for Change Party, the Batkivschyna all-Ukrainian Union (prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s party) and another four parties today announced their unification for participation in the elections to the Parliament on October 28, 2012, reported the Kyiv Post.
“We have united in order to win the parliamentary elections in Ukraine, [and] to restore democracy and justice in Ukraine,” First Deputy Chairman of the Batkivschyna All-Ukrainian Union Oleksandr Turchynov said, reading out the declaration of unity at a press conference on Monday, Apr. 23. (more…)
Arseniy Yatsenyuk
April 3, the Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation hosted a breakfast seminar with the Ukrainian party leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk, former minister for foreign affairs and speaker. Yatsenyuk is a key figure in the attempts to unite the democrat opposition in Ukraine prior to the next parliamentary elections in October this year.
Reports of the developments in Ukraine confirm that the democracy is suffering under President Viktor Yanukovych. What does this mean to this year’s parliamentary elections and how does the democrat opposition work? Those are some of the questions that Arseniy Yatsenyuk answered during the seminar. (more…)
Walburga Habsburg Douglas and Åsa Lindstam outside the prison.
Walburga Habsburg Douglas, MP representing the Moderate party and Deputy Chairman of the OSCE:s parliamentary assembly was refused on Monday to visit the Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko in prison. Both the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry and the Prisons Authority rejected the application for a visit.
“Ukraine must offer transparency immediately and allow the international community to visit Yulia Tymoshenko in prison and see first-hand the conditions in which she is being kept. Ukrainian diplomats and parliamentarians have offered numerous accounts of how ‘comfortable’ the conditions are in Kharkiv for the former prime minister, harping on the fact that she has comforts of home, like a washing machine” said Walburga Habsburg adding that “the fact is that these messages are no substitute for in-person visits.If the government has a story to tell about the conditions in Ms. Tymoshenko’s cell, then authorities should allow international visitors at once.”
“By focusing the discussion on the prison, the Ukrainian foreign ministry has tried to divert attention from the larger issues related to rule of law and political prosecution,” stated Walburga Habsburg.
Don’t forget Ukraine
February 8th, 2012 UkraineAt the end of 2011 Julia Tymoshenko, former prime minister and leader of the Ukrainian Batkivshchyna Partyy, was transferred to a prison about 500 km outside the capital Kiev. This happened “despite the clear evidence of the grave state of her health and the fact that she was kept in a medical ward of the pre-trial detention center and cannot move without assistance,” explained a spokesperson for Batkivshchyna Party. Neither members of her family, nor her defense counselors were informed in advance about the transfer. (more…)
The Kyiv Post is reporting that representatives of the Ukrainian political opposition are planning to stop fighting against one another at the 2012 parliamentary election. According to an agreement on joint actions of the opposition, which was read out at a rally in Kyiv on January 22, it was stated that “only together can we achieve a common goal – to fight dictatorship and build a just and prosperous country!” . (more…)
Ukrainian tax authorities have re-opened four more criminal cases against imprisoned Yulia Tymoshenko, former Prime Minister and opposition leader, less than a month after she was sentenced to seven years in prison for crimes allegedly committed during her time as prime minister.
The four offences allegedly occurred at the time when Yulia Tymoshenko was head of the United Energy Systems of Ukraine (UESU) in the late 1990s. All cases deal with alleged tax evasion. UESU was then the main Ukrainian importer of the Russian natural gas. (more…)
Ukrainian authorities recently issued signals about the fate of the imprisoned ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, as President Viktor Yanukovych hinted that she might be released following a legal reform. However, the Ukrainian Security Service is now filing new corruption charges against her.
Two days after Yulia Tymoshenko was sentenced to seven years in prison, the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) launched a new criminal case, suspecting the former prime minister and current opposition leader of attempting to embezzle $405 million in government funds. This she should have done in cooperation with a government member while heading the United Energy Systems of Ukraine (UESU), the country’s largest power company, in the mid-1990s. (more…)
Yulia Tymoshenko, former prime minister and current opposition leader in Ukraine, was today sentenced to seven years in prison. In addition to this, she was ordered to pay a fine of $188 million to the Ukraine state and will not be able to run for office in another three years. “[This] seriously harm Ukraine’s European integration and casts serious doubts on the Association Agreement” said Viktoria Siumar, Executive Director, Independent Media Institute in Kyiv.
Viktoria Siumar explains that President Yanukovych has shown that he does not want to hear what the EU leaders are saying. “He behaves like a typical post-Soviet authoritarian leader, the main thing for him – [is to] to remove a political rival.” Yulia Tymoshenko has 15 days to appeal the verdict. (more…)
Wilfried Martens, President of the European People’s Party, requested permission from the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv to visit Yulia Tymoshenko in jail during his visit to Ukraine on September 13-16. The request was rejected by Judge Rodion Kireyev of the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv. According to the Court, Wilfried Martens did not provide sufficient cause for such a meeting. Instead, the EPP president met with Yulia Tymoshenko’s daughter Eugenia Tymoshenko and later with President Viktor Yanukovych.
“It was a frank discussion and I explained to him [President Viktor Yanukovych] the EPP position on Ukraine” – Wilfried Martens commented on his Twitter account. (more…)
Senator John McCain and the President of the European People’s Party (EPP) Wilfried Martens, jointly called on Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office to release on bail Yulia Tymoshenko, leader of the Batkivshchyna Party and former Prime Minister, following her dubious detention on August 5, 2011.
Tymoshenko Stays in Arrest
August 8th, 2011 Articles | Foreign Policy | The European Union | UkraineToday Monday August 8, 2011, during the hearing of Yulia Tymoshenko’s criminal case, the Court dismissed an appeal from the former prime minister to release her from jail. Last Friday Yulia Tymoshenko, Ukraine’s top opposition leader and former prime minister, was arrested during her own trial following the judge’s decreed she was guilty of “systematically” disrupting proceedings. Yulia Tymoshenko was led from the courtroom and transferred to a detention centre under heavy police escort.
According to the judge there is no reason to change the decision regarding arrest because, in the appeal from Yulia Tymoshenko’s defense, there is no objective explanation in accordance with the Ukrainian law. (more…)
Earlier today the news agency AFP and the KyivPost suggested that Yulia Tymoshenko, former prime minister of Ukraine and leader of the political bloc Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) might be arrested. This was not the case. She was released following the interrogation about corruption in connection with an agreement about gas.
This morning Yulia Tymoshenko was summoned to an interrogation. This was not the first time Ukrainian authorities called her in for questioning. She is being accused of mishandling of state funds and is placed under de facto house arrest since December 22, 2011. She has only been allowed to travel at a few occasions; including a trip to Brussels in March of this year.
The Prosecutor General’s Office in Ukraine today announced that Yulia Tymoshenkos request to lift a travel ban and to allow her to visit the City of Kharkiv to meet voters and party activists on May 17-18, has been turned down. This happens simultaneously with the release of a statement by Hryhoriy Nemyria, Deputy Head of Batkivshchyna Party and former Deputy Prime Minister in criticizing Ukraine’s political leadership for not honoring its commitments and obligations as a member state of the Council of Europe.
“The current administration must not and has no right to apply selectively criminal justice system to persecute political opponents and to impede the activities of the opposition” said Hryhoriy Nemyria. “It has no right to manipulate electoral laws, to restrain the freedom of assembly, to use the Security Service of Ukraine for intimidation of civil activists, and to establish executive control over the judiciary.” (more…)
“Ukraine Moving Further Away From Democracy”
March 30th, 2011 Countries and Regions | Eastern Europe | Ukraine
After only one year in office Viktor Yanukovych’s administration has moved further down the path of authoritarianism than Leonid Kuchma did in a decade. If it continues, Ukraine – a country that during the presidency of Viktor Yuschenko was on its way to become a democratic and free society – might soon be ranked “not free” by Freedom House.
Both administrations resorted to taking political prisoners. Under Kuchma, members of UNA-UNSO (Ukrainian National Assembly-Ukrainian People’s Self-Defense) were imprisoned for their alleged involvement in the March 2001 riots. Under Yanukovych, the national prosecutor in Ukraine has opened a new case against Yulia Tymoshenko’s activity as prime minister. She is being accused of using funds raised from sales of carbon credits to pay for pensions during the financial crisis, and of buying ambulance vehicles for village doctors that, allegedly, do not suit the purpose; in fact the cars were intended as transport vehicles for doctors serving small villages, to get to patients. Both accusations are seemingly unjustified. (more…)
Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) issued permission to the former Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko and leader of the Batkivshchina opposition party, to visit Brussels on March 23-25. Earlier, Tymoshenko repeatedly requested permission to travel to Brussels but was rejected the right to leave the country based on the recognizance not to leave. In Brussels Yulia Tymoshenko will attend a European People’s Party (EPP) summit.
Yulia Tymoshenko is under house arrest since December 22, 2010, accused of misappropriation of money received by Ukraine under the Kyoto Protocol – money for environmental programs. In addition, Yulia Tymoshenko is charged with embezzlement of state funds while procuring ambulances at inflated prices. She is threatened with a prison term of up to five years. The persecution of Tymoshenko is clearly aimed at removing her from politics prior to the September 2012 Parliamentary elections and the January 2015 presidential contest.
Spring School on the Principles for a Free Society
May 20th, 2010 Azerbaijan | Belarus | Education | Georgia | UkraineOn May 7, 2010 the Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation arranged Spring School, i.e. a youth conference on ideology based on the book “Principles for a free society” by Dr. Nigel Ashford. The participants came from Azerbaijan, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia and Sweden. The conference took place on the island of Muskö in the Stockholm Archipelago.
Dr. Nigel Ashford spoke on the subject of freedom and democracy. Guest speakers from the Moderate Party ran sessions based on further chapters in Dr. Ashford’s book. Gustav Blix and Walburga Habsburg Douglas, both Members of Parliament from the Moderate Party, spoke with reference to globalization and the Eastern Partnership.
The participants were very engaged in the discussions – topics ranging from tolerance and human rights to free enterprise – and were also in charge of presentations of the political situation in their own countries. The participants agreed that they learned a lot from the classes at the conference, and expressed appreciation regarding the possibility to make friends with people from the other countries.
A number of politically active young people from Ukraine visited Sweden during the EU-election campaign, May/June 2009.
