KIEV, Sept. 16 – President Viktor Yanukovych may shortly submit amendments to criminal law that if approved by Parliament would lead to the release of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, a newspaper reported Friday.

The plan has been apparently discussed between Yanukovych and top European officials as a way of opening the door for Ukraine to sign a free trade and political association agreement with the European Union.

“One of the variants of releasing Tymoshenko that has been negotiated between Yanukovych and the European negotiators anticipates making amendments to the criminal law,” Ukrayinska Pravda reported, citing people familiar with the situation.

The plan would allow Yanukovych to “save face” and to lift a major obstacle on the way for Ukraine to signing the free trade and political association agreements later this year, the sources said.

The plan was apparently recently discussed recently at a three-hour meeting between Yanukovych and Alexander Kwasniewski, a former Polish president who had been dispatched to Ukraine to try to solve the problem.

Yanukovych has come under mounting international pressure to release Tymoshenko.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel called Yanukovych on Friday to express her concern over the Tymoshenko case.

This comes a week after EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton said U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have sent a letter to Yanukovych, apparently expressing similar concerns.

The EU and the U.S. expressed their commitment to help Ukraine build a strong and prosperous democracy in which the rule of law is paramount, according to a western diplomat.

Andriy Portnov, a deputy chief of staff at the Yanukovych administration who is in charge of the legal reform effort, said the amendments will target to replace arrest with a fine for any economic crime.

“For any, absolutely any economic crime it would be impossible to arrest the suspect after the approval of this amendments,” Portov said. “All punishments for economic crimes will be replaced with financial sanctions.”

“In other words, any taking into custody would be replaced with fines,” Portnov said.

In a letter to Pornov earlier in the week, Yanukovych also expressed concerns with the high number of people that are kept in pre-trial detention facilities.

There are 19,000 people, including Tymoshenko, that are currently kept in such facilities, of them 1,300 suspects are awaiting trial for more tan 1.5 years.

“The president expressed his concerns with the number of people in Ukraine that are kept in custody,” Portov said. “In order to remove violations of constitutional rights of these people, the president has suggested taking immediate measures.”

Tymoshenko was arrested on August 5 for contempt of court. She is on trial since June for forcing Naftogaz Ukrayiny to sign a controversial 10-year gas agreement with Gazprom of Russia in January 2009 without securing a proper approval from the Cabinet.

Tymoshenko said the case was politically motivated and aimed at destroying the largest opposition party in Ukraine.

A week ago, Pecherskiy district court judge Rodion Kireyev surprised prosecutors and Tymoshenko’s defense team by announcing an adjournment of the Tymoshenko case until September 27 "to guarantee the rights of the defense and provide extra time."

Analysts said the move was announced as the authorities desperately try to find a solution to the Tymoshenko case following the mounting international pressure on Yanukovych. (tl/ez)