Strasbourg, 29.08.2012 – The President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Jean-Claude Mignon, and the co-rapporteurs for Ukraine, Mailis Reps (Estonia, ALDE) and Marietta de Pourbaix-Lundin (Sweden, EPP/CD), expressed their deep disappointment with the Court of Cassation rejection of the appeal by Yulia Tymoshenko against her conviction to seven years in prison in the so-called gas case.
“The Assembly has stated on several occasions that her conviction in the gas case amounts to the criminalisation of normal political decision-making. Given the many questions that have been raised with regard to the Court proceedings that led to her conviction, we – as well as many other friends of Ukraine – had expected that the Court of Cassation would accept her appeal,” they said.
The PACE President and co-rapporteurs emphasised that: “President Yanukovich has made it clear to the co-rapporteurs that he would be ready to intervene in this case if her appeal was rejected by the Court of Cassation. We therefore call upon him to keep his word without delay in order to resolve the issue of the imprisoned former government members. These cases should not be allowed to overshadow the upcoming elections,” they stressed.
Following an invitation by President Yanukovich, the co-rapporteurs intend to visit Ukraine before the next Assembly part-session in order to discuss possible political avenues to resolve this issue in line with Council of Europe standards.
