There are no legal reasons to pardon Tymoshenko - Party of Regions
KYIV. Oct 15 (Interfax) - Ukraine's ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko cannot be pardoned immediately for several reasons, the Party of Regions said.
Tymoshenko has not yet served half of her term, she has not repented, she has not applied for pardon and the damages have not been repaid, either, said Volodymyr Oleynik of the Party of Regions' parliamentary faction.
"I wouldn't compare the criminal case against [former Interior Minister Yuriy] Lutsenko to that of Tymoshenko," he said. "They are too different in terms of weight, circumstances, consequences and the degree of guilt and offence. We cannot cure 'the selective law," as European Union claims we have, by 'selective pardon,'" the lawmaker told Interfax.
"The Ukrainian opposition has put the signing of the association agreement with the European Union in jeopardy by linking it to the Tymoshenko case. In doing so they placed the interests of 45 million Ukrainian citizens below the interests of one person," Oleynik said.
Tymoshenko was arrested on August 5, 2011 during the so-called "gas" trial. A court in Kyiv jailed her for seven years on October 11, 2011 on counts of abuse of authority while negotiating gas deals with Russia in 2009. Tymoshenko has been serving her term at a prison in Kharkiv since December 2011.
