Since May 2010,Ukrainian opposition leader faces criminal charges, Euronews (12 May 2010) a series of criminal cases have been opened against Ukrainian politician and former Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko. After Tymoshenko was released from prison on February 22, 2014, in the concluding days of the Euromaidan revolution, following a revision of the Criminal Code of Ukraine that effectively decriminalized the actions for which she was imprisoned, she was cleared of all charges.Ukraine's Tymoshenko Declares Presidential Candidacy, Voice of America (27 March 2014) She was officially rehabilitated on February 28, 2014.Ukraine: Speaker Oleksandr Turchynov named interim president, BBC News (23 February 2014)Ukraine protests timeline, BBC News (23 February 2014) Just after the Euromaidan revolution, the Ukrainian Supreme Court closed the case and found that "no crime was committed".
By November 2011 Tymoshenko was under criminal investigation for ten criminal acts; Ukrainian prosecutors have claimed she has committed more criminal acts.Getting Yulia, Kyiv Post (3 November 2011)In April 2010 Ukrainian prime minister Mykola Azarov stated that "The whole of the previous government (led by Tymoshenko) has caused damage to the state of ₴100 billion. And because the materials on the implementation of the 2009 budget should be considered not only deputies, but first of all law enforcement agencies, and the former Prime Minister, and officials should be held criminally responsible." (Source: Azarov : Tymoshenko's government struck Ukraine multibillion loss. Site of "RIA Novosti", April 28, 2010) The cases are: intent to bribe Supreme Court judges in 2003, misuse of public finances in 2009 — criminal cases involving "ambulances for rural medicine" and "Kyoto money" (funds that Ukraine received for selling their quotas under the Kyoto Protocol), abuse of office over a natural gas imports contract signed with Russia in January 2009, criminal case on "United Energy Systems of Ukraine" (UESU) (1996–1997) is constantly reopened (in 2001, 2011) and closed (in 2001, 2003, 2005). Was reopened in Ukraine on 24 October 2011 (non-delivery by UESU of goods to Russia for $405.5 million in 1996–1997, 4 cases of tax evasion by UESU in 1996–1997),How Ukraine Became a Market Economy and Democracy by Anders Åslund, Peterson Institute for International Economics, 2009, (page 94) involvement in the 1996 murder of oligarch Yevhen Shcherban in Donetsk.
In addition Tymoshenko's lawyer Serhiy Vlasenko stood accused of car theft, robbery and failing to obey a court ruling stemming from his divorce.
On 11 October 2011, a Ukrainian court sentenced Tymoshenko to seven years in prison after she was found guilty of abusing her office when brokering the 2009 gas deal with Russia.Ukraine ex-PM Yulia Tymoshenko jailed over gas deal, BBC News (11 October 2011) From 5 August 2011 until her release, Tymoshenko was held in custody. At first she was held in Kyiv, before being imprisoned in Kharkiv on December 30, 2011. From May 2012 until the date of her release, she was hospitalized and received treatment for a spinal disc herniation.Opposition leaders visit Tymoshenko's hospital, Kyiv Post (13 November 2012)German doctors arrive at Kharkiv-based clinic to see Tymoshenko, Kyiv Post (15 November 2012)Rome mayor's office puts up Tymoshenko portrait on facade, Kyiv Post (26 November 2012)France disappointed by Tymoshenko appeal rejection, Russian Legal Information Agency (31 August 2012) Tymoshenko went on three hunger strikes during her imprisonment.Yulia Tymoshenko ends hunger strike after hospital move, BBC News (May 9th 2012)Tymoshenko to decide whether to continue hunger strike, Kyiv Post (13 November 2012)
Representatives of several countries and human rights organizations have rated the trials against Tymoshenko as "selective justice" and "political persecution". Amnesty International: Суд над Тимошенко был пародией на правосудие Amnesty International: Tymoshenko's trial was a travesty of justice, Korrespondent (12 October 2011) МЗС Швеції: вирок Тимошенко ставить під загрозу наші відносини Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sweden Tymoshenko verdict jeopardizing our relationship, Ukrayinska Pravda (11 October 2011) The European Union shelved the European Union Association Agreement and Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement with Ukraine, and EU leaders suggested that these agreements would not be ratified unless Ukraine addressed concerns over a "stark deterioration of democracy and the rule of law", including the imprisonment of Tymoshenko and Yuriy Lutsenko in 2011 and 2012.EU leaders:Ratification of Association Agreement and DCFTA depends on settlement of Tymoshenko-Lutsenko issue, Kyiv Post (20 July 2012)Ukraine's Lutsenko jailed for 4 years (updated), Kyiv Post (27 February 2012)
Tymoshenko and her supporters saw the trials (and other similar trials) as political payback by Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych and his Party of Regions.[Ukraine: Tymoshenko on trial in Kyiv for abuse of power], BBC News (24 June 2011)Q&A: Ukraine's Yulia Tymoshenko on trial, BBC News (9 August 2011)Ukraine: Tymoshenko on trial in Kiev for abuse of power, BBC News (24 June 2011)Ukraine timeline, BBC News Both have denied this. According to President Yanukovych the cases were non-partisan measures to combat corruption in Ukraine. He also hinted in late February 2012 that he could pardon Tymoshenko if she would apply for it, but this option was brushed aside by Tymoshenko.
In 2026, Tymoshenko was investigated by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) on allegations of bribing lawmakers. She denied the charges and was released on bail.
"Сrackdown of opposition" in Ukraine
The point of view of the EU, the U.S., Russia The European Union (EU) and EU member states, along with the United States, Russia and Canada (as well as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch) expressed concern that the allegations against Tymoshenko did not constitute crimes and that the charges were politically motivated. The United Kingdom and the United States have stated that this phrasing also applies to the prosecution of dozens other former ministers and officials, including former Ukrainian minister Bohdan Danylyshyn, who was granted political asylum in the Czech Republic in January 2011 "because his prosecution may be politically motivated".Ukraine's Tymoshenko given 7 years in jail, CBC News (11 October 2011)Reaction to Tymoshenko verdict swift and harsh, Kyiv Post (11 October 2011)Yulia Tymoshenko says Ukraine trial 'like Stalin's Soviet Union' as she is jailed for 7 years, telegraph.co.uk (11 October 2011)Ukraine minister insists Yulia Tymoshenko broke the law, telegraph.co.uk (29 August 2012)Ukraine jails Tymoshenko for 7 years, irks EU, Russia, Reuters (11 October 2011)Ukrainian ex-minister gets asylum, The Prague Post (19 January 2011)U.S. Concerned Over Ukraine’s Prosecution of Former Officials, Bloomberg L.P. (30 December 2010)U.S. State Department points to politically motivated prosecution of former officials in Ukraine in its human rights report, Interfax-Ukraine (24 May 2012)World Report 2012: Ukraine, Human Rights WatchA few more goals for Ukraine, Human Rights Watch (11 June 2012)
In 2012–2013, government and non-governmental organizations in Europe and the United States more clearly indicated the presence of political prisoners in Ukraine. On May 23, 2012, the European Parliament issued a resolution that, for the first time, explicitly referenced "political prisoners in Ukraine".Fule: EU doesn't consider Tymoshenko, other former officials as political prisoners, Kyiv Post (20 September 2011) Tymoshenko and her colleagues were described as "political prisoners" in the report, which was adopted at the June session of the PACE (2013) : "4.1.6. Conclusion: Yulia Tymoshenko as a presumed political prisoner under Assembly Resolution 1900 (2012). 71. The analysis of key issues as presented above, in light of the criteria for the definition of political prisoners in Resolution 1900 (2012), leads to a fairly compelling result, namely that Ms Tymoshenko must be recognised as a presumed political prisoner: 1) Ms Tymoshenko is a key opposition leader and main rival of the current President. She was sentenced to a particularly harsh seven-year prison term on the basis of vague abuse-of-office charges. 2) These charges effectively criminalised the political decision she had taken as Prime Minister in favour of an agreement with Russia to end an acute crisis threatening the provision of gas to Ukraine and other European countries. 3) The prosecution and trial were marred by numerous presumptive procedural violations. 4) Ms Tymoshenko was also put under intense physical and psychological pressure, both during pretrial detention and in post-conviction custody. Her family, lawyers and political allies, in particular Mr Vlasenko, have also suffered from a co-ordinated campaign of harassment and persecution by the authorities. 5) The legally and factually dubious nature of the new charges brought against her further underpins their political motivation"
Yanukovych's point of view