Former Prime Minister of Ukraine Yu.V. Tymoshenko was recently convicted of abuse of power and sentenced to 7 years in prison. Not only in Ukraine, but also in a number of foreign countries, this verdict is considered by people as unjust, politically motivated. Say, the current government represented by the President of Ukraine V.F. Yanukovych and the Donetsk group behind him simply dealt with the leader of the political opposition, fearing Tymoshenko’s popularity.
The Western press spares no effort in trying to present the convict as an implacable fighter against corruption and almost the standard of democracy. Some leaders of Western countries exert undisguised pressure on V.F. Yanukovych demanding to cancel the verdict and release the “prisoner of conscience”.
But was Tymoshenko really the victim of a political struggle? This version does not withstand even the most superficial criticism. Tymoshenko has officially been convicted of having arbitrarily forged directives of the Cabinet of Ministers of her country in 2009 before concluding gas contracts with Russia. At her direct instruction, a fake document was produced, certified by her signature and seal of the Cabinet of Ministers. It was using this fake that Tymoshenko put pressure on the leadership of Netfegaz Ukrainy, forcing him to sign an extremely disadvantageous agreement for the country. Moreover, the details of the agreement were hidden from the highest officials of Ukraine and from its parliament! This is absolutely unheard of.
According to the laws of any country, such behavior of a high official is clearly criminal. Moreover, in some states, whose leaders are particularly loud in their defense of an unyielding democrat, a defendant convicted of such a crime would receive a much more severe punishment.
It should also be noted that when sentencing, the court is also obliged to consider the identity of the defendant, to assess his previous behavior. It is known that one of Tymoshenko’s previous bosses, the former Prime Minister of Ukraine P. Lazarenko, was convicted in the United States of America for corruption and money laundering. The decision of the American court Yu.V. Tymoshenko was directly called his accomplice. There are also a number of verdicts of Russian courts hearing corruption cases in the Russian Ministry of Defense. And there, companies led by Tymoshenko were convicted of very unseemly acts. Of course, in determining the sentence, the court took into account these well-known facts.
