Yushchenko's Role in Tymoshenko's Persecution
By: Taras Kuzio Former President Viktor Yushchenko is an important, but underestimated, aspect of the sentencing of opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko to seven years imprisonment and a three-year ban from government work. Our Ukraine honorary chairman Yushchenko’s support for the sentence was in contradiction with the Our Ukraine political party, which condemned it as a return to authoritarianism. Every other opposition political party condemned the sentence. Party of Regions deputy Taras Chornovil said in a recent interview with Radio Svoboda that “Yushchenko was the only well-known public person in Ukraine who supported the sentence.” Yushchenko was the only person who “applauded and said that he supported it and was satisfied with it” In interviews given to the BBC Ukrainian service on Oct. 12 and Der Spiegel on Oct. 18, Yushchenko publicly supported Tymoshenko’s sentence. Speaking on Inter television channel on Oct. 23, Yushchenko stated his opposition to the d...