Posted on 02/21/2014 9:17:46 AM PST by AnAmericanAbroad
Parliament voted to free ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko from prison by decriminalizing the article in the criminal procedural code under which she was convicted.
A constitutional majority of 310 lawmakers from a cross-section of different parties, including the Communists, voted for the measure. This makes the legislation veto-proof, preventing President Viktor Yanukovych from blocking the move. Yanukovych is widely blamed for ordering the imprisonment of his political rival.
The bill that parliament passed included other articles of the criminal procedural code that were decriminalized.
Batkivshchyna Party lawmaker Oleksandr Turchynov, a close ally of Tymoshenko and her former deputy prime minister, said the articles were not cancelled but "are being brought in line with European legislation" in accordance with recommendations from multiple international institutions.
(Excerpt) Read more at kyivpost.com ...
Do you think Yanukovych’s days are numbered? Or is he just going to muddle through his term as a lame duck?
Hard to say at this point. His party, the Party of Regions, seems to be disintegrating even as right this - more and more MP’s are quitting the party, and about two dozen of them fled Ukraine starting yesterday afternoon.
He’s losing support pretty quickly, and his Interior Minister has been sacked by the Rada. The parliament is systematically stripping him of his powers, and restoring those powers to the parliament.
From the pics of Tymoshenko I’ve seen..........Not Guilty.
I think she is very pretty, looked like my mom when she was young (before she went to prison, anyway).
I've no love for Yanukovych, but I still hope the legislature doesn't bring back bills of attainder and/or give him King Charlie therapy.
Sorry to hear that your mom went to prison.
interesting
from what you describe it sounds like the ship is sinking fast
Heh.....at the rate things are going, Yanukovych will be the President of the Third Floor Janitor’s Closet pretty soon.
He’s in a lot of trouble....but then again, it’s trouble of his own making.
And Interior Ministry troops and Berkut units are now returning to their barracks under orders.
Game over, it would seem.
Time will tell
“I think she is very pretty, looked like my mom when she was young (before she went to prison, anyway).”
What was your mom convicted of, if you don’t mind me asking?
http://www.tymoshenko.ua/en/article/yulia_tymoshenko_20_02_2014_01
"Yanukovych crossed the line long ago. But the fact that today he gave the order for snipers to fire against peaceful, unarmed and defenseless civilians borders on the most extreme sadistic brutally that no human being could commit.
One can’t watch without crying as simple and honest boys and men, who rose in defense of Ukraine, hide from snipers’ bullets behind wooden shields. These wooden shields can’t protect them. They are dying from snipers’ bullets in front of the eyes of the world. They are being killed by a man who considers himself the president. He is killing them on Independence Square, in the center of a European capital, cold-bloodedly and calmly.
This can not be forgiven.
I demand that the opposition never again sit down to the negotiating table with Yanukovych. Anyone who breaks this taboo will be Yanukovych’s accomplice in killing innocent people.
From this moment, the demand of the people, civil society, opposition, international community and every moral person can only be the immediate removal of Yanukovych as president of Ukraine and his criminal prosecution for organizing the massacre of peaceful citizens.
I ask the leaders of the democratic world to urgently find a way to take the case against Yanukovych to the International Criminal Court and urgently isolate him from peaceful people, like the dangerous beast he is!
Glory to all those who died for Ukraine!
Glory to all the defenders of Ukraine!
Glory to Ukraine!
Don’t take one step back. The dictator will fall any day now.
Yulia Tymoshenko
Kachanivska prison, Kharkiv
February 20, 2014"
This is looking like the shoe is about to be on the other foot and Western Ukraine will be mollified, but the Eastern and Southern regions will now become the sources of greater unrest.
Ukraine can do this, but this country is too busy talking about who is going to be on Fallon tonight.
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