KIEV, Dec. 13 - A European Union envoy, on a mission to Ukraine to save the December 19 summit from failure, said on Tuesday he had voiced serious concern again to President Viktor Yanukovych over the jailing of opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko, Reuters reported.

EU commissioner Stefan Fuele, the bloc's point man on Ukraine, held more than three hours of talks with Yanukovich in Kiev on Monday night and then visited Tymoshenko for a half-hour at the Kiev prison where she is being held.

"I underlined that the EU is concerned about lack of progress on a number of critical reforms in Ukraine, including those in the constitutional and judicial spheres and we have had substantial discussions on these," Fuele said of his talks with Yanukovych and others.

"I also reiterated our serious concern over recent cases of selective justice in Ukraine, including the cases of Yulia Tymoshenko and others," Fuele said in a statement.
With Tymoshenko, he had discussed her health and developments in her case.

"I informed her about the EUs concerns regarding this process and assured her that we would continue to follow closely her appeal and would insist upon the need for her to benefit from of all her rights to defend herself in a fair process," Fuele said.

The envoy gave no indication that there had been any change of heart by Yanukovych or any sign he would intervene to bring about Tymoshenko's release -- indeed the authorities have been piling up charges against her rather than the reverse.

Tymoshenko, a former prime minister, was jailed for seven years in October on charges of abuse of office after a trial the EU says was politically motivated.

Last Friday, authorities convened a special court in her prison cell and formally "re-arrested" her on a new criminal charge of tax evasion, prompting her lawyer to say that the authorities clearly intended to keep her locked up indefinitely.

The abuse of office charge, for which she was sentenced in October, relates to brokering a gas deal with Russia in 2009 when she was prime minister. (rt/ez)