BRAMA, August 6, 2011, 9:00 AM ET
Press release
Statement from Yulia Tymoshenko
Opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko has issued a precautionary statement saying that she does not intend to commit suicide. The former premier, who is facing a show trial in Kyiv, was arrested and detained in custody today. The charges against her are politically motivated and there are concerns for her wellbeing whilst detained in custody.
"I would like to make a statement in connection with the realisation of the plan of my arrest. It is clear that this is a reprisal against a political opponent, but that it is not the point. I would like to declare that I am not prone to suicide. They'd better not repeat the tricks they made with Kyrpa and Kravchenko. I will never commit suicide. Everything I do is aimed at fighting against the criminal regime, for Ukraine to have a dignified place in the world.”
Yulia Tymoshenko
Note: Yuriy Kravchenko was Minister of Internal Affairs. He was found dead in his apartment near Kyiv on 4 March 2005. It was claimed that he committed suicide but he was found with two gunshot wounds to the head.
Heorhiy Kyrpa was Minister of Transportation & Telecommunications under President Leonid Kuchma. Mr Kyrpa was found shot dead outside of Kyiv on 27 December 2004. The official police report stated he committed suicide.
What the International Community Thinks
Comments from the international community are beginning to pour in.
Statement by European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek on the Detention of Yulia Tymoshenko:
The President of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek, after receiving the news of a Ukrainian Court's decision to detain former Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko, made the following statement:
"I am disturbed by the news about the Court's decision to detain former Prime Minister Tymoshenko. The context and conditions raise concern about the politically motivated nature of this decision, and about the application of the rule of law in Ukraine.
I have recently expressed my concern to Ukraine's leaders about the apparent selectivity in opening criminal proceedings against Ms Tymoshenko and other former ministers of the previous government.
I urge Ukraine to uphold the principles and common values that define our relationship and that form the core of the Eastern partnership."
Note: The European Parliament voted in June a resolution on "Ukraine: the cases of Yulia Tymoshenko and other members of the former government"
EPP President: 'Tymoshenko arrest brings Ukraine one step closer to Soviet-style authoritarianism'
Brussels, 5 August 2011 — The President of the European People's Party (EPP), Wilfried Martens, after learning that the Ukrainian court has ordered former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko to be placed under arrest in the framework of an on-going court case, made the following statement:
"I am not surprised that today the court ordered Yulia Tymoshenko to be placed under arrest. For months now, it has been blatantly obvious that the Yanukovych regime is running a politically motivated court case. The motive is clear: the removal of the main obstacle for returning to Soviet-style authoritarianism. Today Ukraine has moved one step closer," the EPP President emphasized.
"I call on Viktor Yanukovych to put an immediate end to this sham – Europe's patience has reached its limit," President Martens added.
Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is the leader of Batkivshchyna, an observer member party of the EPP.
Note: The EPP is the largest and most influential European-level political party of the centre right, which currently includes 75 member-parties from 39 countries, the Presidents of the European Commission, European Council, and European Parliament, 17 EU and 6 non-EU heads of state and government, 13 members of the European Commission and the largest Group in the European Parliament.
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