UJ.com

Top 2 

                        FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2024
Make Homepage /  Add Bookmark
Front Page
Nation
Business
Search
Subscription
Advertising
About us
Copyright
Contact
 

   Username:
   Password:


Registration

 
GISMETEO.RU
UJ Week
Top 1   

    
Nation    

Medvedev keeps quiet on Yulia after Sochi
Journal Staff Report

KIEV, Aug. 11 – Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, following a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yanukovych in Sochi on Thursday, made no public comments over the arrest of Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko.

This comes after a Kremlin source told Interfax-Ukraine on Wednesday that Medvedev had been specifically seeking to discuss the issue with Yanukovych.

Yanukovych, however, in his first official reaction to the Aug. 5 arrest, said Thursday he will not interfere in the work of the court, because otherwise “the problems would be even greater.”

"The Ukrainian judicial system is independent and without prejudice and is guided solely by the constitution and laws of Ukraine," Yanukovych said in a letter to Czech President Vaclav Klaus, who had earlier asked Yanukovych for assurances that the trial of Tymoshenko was not politically motivated.

"Political or any kind of interference in the work of the court is unacceptable," he added.

"Not one of the current judicial processes involving former officials is, and cannot be, politically motivated. I am responsible for this personally, as a guarantor of the Ukrainian constitution," said Yanukovych.

Tymoshenko's arrest sparked concern in the United States and EU members about the rule of law in Ukraine and also fears the controversy could endanger an association agreement Kiev hopes to sign this year with the European Union.

Tymoshenko, who was arrested for contempt of court during her trial on charges of abuse of power, has insisted she is the victim of a political vendetta led by Yanukovych.

Tymoshenko is tried for negotiating and ordering to sign a 10-year natural gas agreement with Russia in January 2009 that Yanukovych and his Prime Minister Mykola Azarov had said was “extremely favorable” for Ukraine.

Russia was one of the first countries to respond to the arrest by issuing a statement assuring that the agreement had been signed in accordance with the laws of both countries and backed by presidents of both countries.

Viktor Yushchenko, the president of Ukraine at the time, has never approved nor supported the agreement. Prosecutors plan to question Yushchenko at the trial later this month.

In his response to Klaus, Yanukovych also said Ukraine had taken a irreversible path towards establishing European principles of "law, human rights and democratic development".

Tymoshenko, who is being held in Kiev's Lukyanovsky detention centre, risks being jailed for up to 10 years if convicted of abuse of power over gas deals she signed with Russia in 2009.

She is transported through central Kiev in a prison van for the daily hearings of her trial. (tl/ez)




Log in

Print article E-mail article


Currencies (in hryvnias)
  28.03.2024 prev
USD 39.23 39.14
RUR 0.425 0.422
EUR 42.44 42.44

Stock Market
  27.03.2024 prev
PFTS 507.0 507.0
source: PFTS

OTHER NEWS

Ukrainian Journal   
Front PageNationBusinessEditorialFeatureAdvertisingSubscriptionAdvertisingSearchAbout usCopyrightContact
Copyright 2005 Ukrainian Journal. All rights reserved
Programmed by TAC webstudio