PACE political prisoner vote to pressure Ukraine

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe reaffirmed its support for criteria to define the notion of political prisoner yesterday. According to the resolution, the criteria are: (a) if detention has been imposed in violation of fundamental guarantees from the European Convention on Human Rights, (b) if detention has been imposed for purely political reasons, (c) if the length of detention is out of proportion with the offence, (d) if the victim has been detained in a discriminatory manner, and (e) if detention is the result of proceedings that were unfair or appear to be politically motivated. Ukrainian opposition leaders have said they subsequently expect PACE to formally extend the term political prisoners to imprisoned opposition leaders Yulia Tymoshenko and Yuriy Lutsenko.

Brad Wells: The definition can be used by the European Union as another instrument to put more pressure on the Ukrainian government, which is a PACE member, to change its treatment of Tymoshenko and Lutsenko. We remain skeptical about any potential shift – there are still no grounds to believe Ukrainian officials are willing to examine or correct these concerns.