today 25.05.2013 06:33
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Human Rights in Ukraine Information website of the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group |
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In this interview, Valery Ivashchenko refutes the Ukrainian Foreign Minister’s claim that he didn’t receive political asylum in Denmark and says that he was effectively offered freedom if he or his relatives would testify against Tymoshenko 
Last week’s interrogation of “witnesses” did not just confirm all scepticism over Prosecutor General Pshonkas’ public claim to have evidence that imprisoned former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko ordered the killing of MP and Donetsk businessman Eugene Shcherban in 1996. It also graphically highlighted the embarrassingly caricature nature of the whole exercise 
Ukraine’s leaders have little time left to put aside the selective justice which has led to the imprisonment of the most prominent opposition figures in the country and seriously marred Ukraine’s reputation. The refusal to release Lutsenko is clearly a bad sign. 
MPs from the Batkivshchyna Party have had a criminal case initiated over alleged resistance shown to law enforcement officers in the Kyiv Court of Appeal 
Viktor Romanyuk who recently stood for election to parliament from the opposition Batkivshchyna Party in the problematical single-mandate electoral district No. 94, has been forced to leave Ukraine 
In yet another worrying development, the mprisoned former Prime Minister has been fined $2 thousand over her refusal to appear in court for investigative activities linked with the criminal investigation into the murder of MP and businessman Eugene Shcherban in 1996. 
The Danish Foreign Ministry has confirmed that Denmark has granted the former Acting Minister of Defence in Yulia Tymoshenko’s government, Valery Ivashchenko political asylum. 
Channel ATN reports that on Tuesday, Kharkiv enforcement officers travelled around “reception offices” of the Batkivshchyna MP Arsen Aavakov, trying to carry out searches. 
Former Interior Minister and opposition leader Yury Lutsenko’s lawyers are planning to call for his release on the grounds of health. Human rights activists and political analysts say that this would have a positive impact on relations between Ukraine and the EU. 
At a joint press conference with Viktor Yanukovych, Lithuania’s President Grybauskaite: stated clearly that the EU-Ukraine Agreement is linked with politically motivated prosecution of opposition leaders, and that the situation must be resolved 
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