UKRAINE: Lawyers from legal team representing former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko say her seven-year jail sentence was the criminalisation of a political act, she will launch an appeal and go all the way to the European Court
Record ID:
838677
UKRAINE: Lawyers from legal team representing former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko say her seven-year jail sentence was the criminalisation of a political act, she will launch an appeal and go all the way to the European Court
- Title: UKRAINE: Lawyers from legal team representing former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko say her seven-year jail sentence was the criminalisation of a political act, she will launch an appeal and go all the way to the European Court
- Date: 13th October 2011
- Summary: KIEV, UKRAINE (OCTOBER 12, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS SUPPORTERS OF FORMER UKRAINE PRIME MINISTER YULIA TYMOSHENKO CAMPED OUT NEAR COURT WHERE SHE WAS SENTENCED ON TUESDAY (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) TYMOSHENKO SUPPORTER NINA PETROVNA SAYING : " I will be here until she is freed. The right place for many of the leaders of the government is behind bars in the Lukyanovka Prison." FLAGS OF TYMOSHENKO SUPPORTERS AT TENT ENCAMPMENT OUTSIDE COURT WIDE OF BRIEFING BY LAWYERS OF YULIA TYMOSHENKO'S LEGAL TEAM CAMERA CREWS (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) TYMOSHENKO LAWYER, MYKOLA SYRIY, SAYING : "With this verdict we see the criminalisation of a political decision and activity, this verdict pronounced a criminal sentence on what was a political decision which any politician should be making." JOURNALISTS AT BRIEFING (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) TYMOSHENKO LAWYER, MYKOLA SYRIY, SAYING : "These (gas) contracts are 100 percent legal and were taken with the full authority granted in the 2009 budget which follows Ukrainian law. All the actions of the government delegation and of Yulia Vladimirovna (Tymoshenko) were 100 percent legal. If there was any bureaucratic irregularity then such bureaucratic irregularities have nothing criminal about them." JOURNALISTS AT BRIEFING (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) TYMOSHENKO LAWYER, YURI SUKHOV SAYING: "We will make an appeal regardless of whether the offence is criminal or not, and we will go the whole way - as far as the European Court. I think this case will go far enough to clear Yulia Vladimirovna Tymoshenko of all charges. To get to the European court we have to go through the appeal stage and to the High Court stage in the UK courts - here we don't see any chance that the verdict will be overturned because UK courts regard Tymoshenko's actions as criminal." JOURNALISTS AT BRIEFING BRIEFING WITH VADIM KORASYOV POLITICAL ANALYST (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) VADIM KORASYOV, POLITICAL ANALYST, SAYING : "With regard to Russia I will say at once that, whether Tymoshenko is released, or jailed for even longer, the situation with Russia will still be cool and the relationship will become more alienated. The alienation is between the Ukrainian and Russian elites. Putin has said that this sentence not only concerns Tymoshenko, but the gas contract and at the same time, him personally because he signed it in 2009." KIEV STREET
- Embargoed: 28th October 2011 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Ukraine, Ukraine
- City:
- Country: Ukraine
- Topics: Politics
- Reuters ID: LVAEB03AYSESQ5CAULSEUKIGNDKE
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- Story Text: Legal representatives of jailed former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said on Wednesday (October 12) that they plan to launch an appeal to the seven-year sentence Tymoshenko received on Tuesday (October 11), while her supporters continued to protest against the sentence.
"I will be here until she is freed. The right place for many of the leaders of the government is behind bars in the Lukyanovka Prison," said one protester, Nina Petrovna, who continues to stand with other protesters outside the court where the sentencing took place on Tuesday in central Kiev.
Tymoshenko's supporters say the trial was part of Yanukovich's plans to eliminate her as his only real opposition. If sheup serving a long prison term, she will be unable to contest a parliamentary election next year or run again for president in 2015.
A court on Tuesday sentenced Tymoshenko to seven years in prison for abusing her power by forcing through a gas deal with Russia her opponents say saddled Ukraine with an exorbitant price for gas.
Tymoshenko has denied the charges, and her lawyer Mykola Syriy said that the verdict was politically motivated.
"With this verdict we see the criminalisation of a political decision and activity, this verdict pronounced a criminal sentence on what was a political decision which any politician should be making," he said, adding, "These (gas) contracts are 100 percent legal and were taken with the full authority granted in the 2009 budget which follows Ukrainian law. All the actions of the government delegation and of Yulia Vladimirovna (Tymoshenko) were 100 percent legal. If there was any bureaucratic irregularity then such bureaucratic irregularities have nothing criminal about them," Syriy added.
Another of Tymoshenko's lawyers Yuri Sukhov said that the appeal would be launched and taken to an international court.
"We will make an appeal regardless of whether the offence is criminal or not, and we will go the whole way - as far as the European Court. I think this case will go far enough to clear Yulia Vladimirovna Tymoshenko of all charges. To get to the Euroepan court we have to go through the appeal stage and to the High Court stage in the UK courts - here we don't see any chance that the verdict will be overturned because UK courts regard Tymoshenko's actions as criminal," Sukhov said.
The verdict against Tymoshenko also irked Russia, with whom the gas deal was signed. The contract was the basis of a trial of former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko which ended on Tuesday with her being jailed for seven years for forcing Naftogaz to sign the deal.
Talks are ongoing with Russia over the contract, though it is not clear to what extent Moscow is ready to ease the pricing structure.
Political analyst Vadim Korasyov said that relations between the two countries would remain sour no matter what turn the Tymoshenko case takes.
"With regard to Russia I will say at once that, whether Tymoshenko is released, or jailed for even longer, the situation with Russia will still be cool and the relationship will become more alienated. The alienation is between the Ukrainian and Russian elites. Putin has said that this sentence not only concerns Tymoshenko, but the gas contract and at the same time, him personally because he signed it in 2009," Korasyov told Reuters.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, however on Wednesday (October 12) said that he expected a just and acceptable compromise would soon be worked out with Russia over the price of Russian gas.
"In the coming weeks we will find a compromise with Russia on gas prices and agree on a fair and reasonable price. So together with (planned) energy saving schemes, this will reduce the amount of hard currency we spend on gas imports. With the National Bank of Ukraine's fully sufficient reserves, this will be a guarantee of the financial system and the stability of the national currency," Azarov said at a government meeting.
Azarov also said last month that Ukraine planned to complete the revision of its gas contract with Russia in October.
The cash-strapped former Soviet republic is trying to renegotiate its current gas deal with Russia under which it is paying $354 per 1,000 cubic metres this quarter.
Gas price disputes between Moscow and Kiev have in the past disrupted shipments of Russian gas to Europe, which mostly pass through pipelines across Ukraine.
A contract signed in January 2009 between Ukraine's state energy firm Naftogaz and Russia's Gazprom set what the current Ukrainian leadership regards as an exorbitant price for Russian gas. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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