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OSCE Resolution on Political Persecution in Ukraine ‘Pending’

© RIA Novosti . Taras LariokhinOSCE Resolution on Political Persecution in Ukraine ‘Pending’
OSCE Resolution on Political Persecution in Ukraine ‘Pending’         - Sputnik International
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A group of Czech senators are preparing an OSCE Parliamentary Assembly resolution on political persecution in Ukraine, jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s website reported on Tuesday.

A group of Czech senators are preparing an OSCE Parliamentary Assembly resolution on political persecution in Ukraine, jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s website reported on Tuesday.

The senators, who met with Tymoshenko’s daughter and husband, said the draft resolution would be submitted to the OSCE PA session July 5-9.

The EU increasingly links the prospect of Ukrainian membership to the case of Tymoshenko and other opposition figures. In May, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on Ukraine, urging the country to release all political prisoners immediately.

Tymoshenko was jailed for seven years in October 2011 for overstepping her authority as prime minister in signing a 2009 gas deal with Russia. The United States, the European Union and Russia have condemned Tymoshenko's conviction.

Tymoshenko says her trial was political revenge by current President Viktor Yanukovych.

The first deputy chief prosecutor, Renat Kuzmin, also has alleged that there is evidence showing Tymoshenko, Pavlo Lazarenko and the ex-president, Leonid Kuchma, have been directly involved in murders.

“The Prosecutor General’s Office has the evidence that Tymoshenko, Lazarenko and Kuchma have direct connections to murders. And we are working to bring sufficient evidence that will allow to bring charges against them,” Kuzmin said in the interview with The Kiev Times, published on Tuesday.

Kuzmin however did not specify on the evidence.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled on Tuesday that Ukrainian opposition leader Yuriy Lutsenko was arbitrarily arrested and detained, and ordered Ukraine to pay 15,000 euros in non-pecuniary damage.

The ECHR held that no valid reasons had been given for Lutsenko’s detention, that he had not been duly informed of the reasons for his detention, and, that the lawfulness of his arrest and detention had not been properly reviewed.

Lutsenko, the leader of the opposition party Narodna Samooborona and was the minister of the interior until January 2010.

In November 2010, the General Prosecutor’s Office brought criminal proceedings against Lutsenko for unlawfully arranging different work-related benefits for his driver. On December 11 of the same year, the prosecution brought another criminal case against Lutsenko for abuse of office, for allegedly arranging the allocation of a one-room apartment to his driver.

On December 26, 2010, Lutsenko was arrested in connection with the second criminal case. On February 27, 2012, he was convicted and sentenced to four years’ imprisonment and confiscation of property. The judgment was upheld on appeal on 16 May 2012.

 

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