Ukrainian opposition expects Tymoshenko to be freed by end of September
KYIV. Aug 24 (Interfax) - The Ukrainian opposition association Batkivshchyna expects former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko to be released from prison by the end of September.
"I would like to say clearly what requirements have been set primarily by the European Union rather than by the Ukrainian opposition. There are three basic points. Point one is to stop political persecutions, namely release Yulia Tymoshenko. This is a demand by the EU," Arseny Yatsenyuk, the leader of the Batkivshchyna parliamentary faction, told journalists in Kyiv on Saturday.
"This decision must be made. The first step toward such release and the end of political persecutions is through providing Yulia Tymoshenko with the opportunity to receive medical aid abroad," he said.
The deadline by which this should be done is near, he said.
"We expect a momentous political decision from Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych by the end of September. Whether Ukraine will sign an association agreement with the European Union will depend on whether the Ukrainian authorities and the Ukrainian president makes a decision on correcting a criminal mistake committed in relation to Yulia Tymoshenko. The first step is to provide her with the opportunity of receiving medical assistance abroad," he said.
Two other things that Ukraine is supposed to do is to reform its judicial and election systems, he said.
Supporters of the Batkivshchyna association gathered earlier on Saturday near a monument to the poet Taras Shevchenko to mark Ukraine's national holiday, Independence Day.
Kyiv's Pechersky District Court found Tymoshenko guilty of abuse of office by signing gas supply contracts with Russia in 2009 and sentenced her to 7 years in prison on October 11, 2011. Tymoshenko was placed at a Kharkiv penitentiary to serve her prison term in late December 2011 and was transferred to Central Clinical Hospital No. 5 in Kharkiv for health reasons on May 9, 2012. German doctors from the Berlin-based Charite clinic are developing treatment strategies and deciding which medicines are to be used for her treatment.
Ukraine expects to sign an association agreement with the EU at a summit in Vilnius in November.
