Tymoshenko’s Revolving Door
March 27 saw a programmed sensation and Yuliya Tymoshenko’s release from prison clearly showed both a legal and political aspect. Formally, from the legal standpoint, little had changed in the former Vice Premier’s criminal case. The charges pressed by the General Prosecutor’s Offices had not been refuted and she was still on remand. The ruling of the Pechersk District Court reads that Deputy General Prosecutor Mykola Obikhod failed to pay due attention to the defendant’s physical condition and personality when issuing an arrest warrant against the her; there was every reason not to put her under restraint by way of arrest. Yet another fact was overlooked, in the court’s opinion, namely that 72 lawmakers visited the General Prosecutor’s Office after her arrest, personally vouching that she would not attempt to flee. The General Prosecutor’s Office lodged a protest with the Presidium of the Kyiv City Court the next day against the ruling of the Pechersk District Court canceling Vice Premier Yuliya Tymoshenko’s arrest. Deputy General Prosecutor of Ukraine Mykola Obikhod says the protest was made due to the “inadequate grounds for Judge Zamkovenko’s ruling.”
The court established that the investigating authority had no cause to assume that Yuliya Tymoshenko would avoid the court and obstruct inquiries to learn the truth in the case. “The General Prosecutor’s Office has not provided sufficient evidence and no such evidence is on record,” reads the judgment. Mykola Obikhod was quoted by Interfax Ukraine as saying on March 28, “Speaking of the Tymoshenko case as such, the investigation is being carried out in an unbiased and comprehensive manner. The charges have not been lifted; on the contrary, they are being confirmed in the course of inquiry, on a daily basis.”
Interestingly, through reading the judgment, Judge Mykola Zamkovenko made several political statements. “I believe that we have taken into account Yuliya Tymoshenko’s personality and her political prestige,” he said, stressing that it was not simple decision, but a responsible one. The judge voiced his confidence that the decision would be accepted in the political quarters and that it would serve to ease tensions in society.
Mykola Zamkovenko had a point: the decision was anything but simple. Allegations that the court was under pressure from and “stimulated” by interested parties do not sound all that absurd. Another possibility is that certain links in the presidential chain of command held separate talks with Yuliya Tymoshenko’s comrades-in-arms. Premier Yushchenko’s March 28 statement that the release from custody of his former cabinet team member “is not a manifestation of the court’s weakness; on the contrary, it is a demonstration of the court’s strength,” can be evidence of the Premier’s (a) attempt to appear romantic, oblivious to the harsh realities of Ukrainian politics or (b) being inadequately informed for an official of his rank. Russia’s APN political news agency, referring to a source in a Russian clandestine agency, reported on March 28 that “Premier Yushchenko’s wife, a US citizen and an old friend of the Batkivshchyna leader, was actually at the head of Tymoshenko’s unofficial defense pool. Other sources point out that it was on her insistent recommendation that Viktor Yushchenko put Yuliya Tymoshenko in his cabinet.”
Many among the opposition, particularly National Salvation Forum people, made appropriate statements in the aftermath of Tymoshenko’s release, describing it as “a significant victory of the democratic opposition determined to get this country out of its political crisis by conducting a civilized dialogue with the regime.” Not for long, it seems.
Former Vice Premier Yuliya Tymoshenko was again arrested late Friday night. Now she is in the private Kyiv hospital’s room under guard. That evening the Board of the Kyiv City Court granted the General Prosecutor’s protest against Tymoshenko’s release from custody. Her arrest was confirmed by Mykola Obikhod, Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine.
Interfax reports, referring to informed sources close to her, that Tymoshenko’s hospital room was entered by the chief investigating officer of the Prosecutor General’s Office handling her case, accompanied by three men of the OMON special militia forces. He handed her the City Court’s protocol [decision] canceling the previous Pechersk District Court ruling releasing her from custody (March 27). Simultaneously, it reestablished Deputy General Prosecutor Mykola Obikhod’s arrest warrant. Yuliya Tymoshenko refused to sign the document in the absence of her lawyer.
Mrs. Tymoshenko’s lawyer, Viktor Shvets, says he lodged an appeal with the Supreme Court yesterday morning, objecting to his charge being placed under arrest again.
Oleksandr Turchynov in an interview with Moscow’s Izvestiya published yesterday said informed sources in the Presidential Administration point to Leonid Kuchma personally ordering the second arrest.
PA Director Volodymyr Lytvyn believes that all the court rulings concerning the former vice premier and Batkivshchyna leader must be “in strict conformity with the law.” When asked about his personal attitude toward Tymoshenko’s repeated arrest, he replied, “I think that the President expressed the correct stand when stating [in Donetsk —Ed.] that ‘if there is a court ruling [i.e., concerning Tymoshenko’s release from custody —Ed.] it must be carried out.’”
Premier Yushchenko told the TSN news service of Ukraine’s 1+1 television channel, “It is hard to conduct negotiations with either of the sides being behind bars.” He regarded Yuliya Tymoshenko’s arrest as “a demonstration of force which is an unwelcome occurrence now that we are trying to find a way out of the political crisis and establish a normal political dialogue.”
At Press Time
Interfax-Ukraine reports that the Supreme Court has overruled the lower court decision to once again place Mrs. Tymoshenko under arrest, but at the moment nobody really knows where she will be allowed to spend the night, at home or behind bars.
