Ukraine pardon commission claims receiving no request for Tymoshenko

Larysa Skoryk, a member of the Ukrainian president’s pardon commission, told the Kommersant-Ukraine newspaper on October 24 that the commission received no pardon request regarding the imprisoned former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. Her claim contradicts the statement made the same day by Tymoshenko’s lead defense attorney, Serhiy Vlasenko, the commission rejected on October 24 a pardon request on Tymoshenko’s behalf that was signed by European Parliament representatives and hundreds of Ukrainian political, cultural and religious leaders.  Skoryk said Tymoshenko had to submit a pardon request herself, which she refuses to do because she insists she did not violate the law.

Ukraine’s parliament failed to review on October 24 a bill that would arrange for her medical treatment abroad and return to imprisonment afterwards, as Kommersant reported it would. Instead, parliament voted yesterday to include in next week’s agenda a review of two bills that set the conditions for Tymoshenko’s medical treatment abroad, one reportedly prepared by the ruling majority and another by the opposition, according to news reports.

Zenon Zawada: The statement from the pardon commission member confirms what we’ve been saying all along. We don’t expect Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych to follow the EU’s recommendation and pardon Tymoshenko, even partially. Therefore, a legislative solution is needed, which will likely be reached on the eve of the November 18 session of the EU Foreign Affairs Council, at which it must decide on signing the Association Agreement with the Ukrainian government.