[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 164 (Monday, November 18, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8082-S8083]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CALLING FOR THE RELEASE OF YULIA TYMOSHENKO
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate
proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 95, S. Res. 165.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
A resolution (S. Res. 165) calling for the release from
prison of former Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko
in light of the recent European Court of Human Rights ruling.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. There being no objection, the Senate proceeded
to consider the resolution, which had been reported from the Committee
on Foreign Relations, with an amendment and an amendment to the
preamble, as follows:
(Strike out all after the resolving clause and insert the part
printed in italic.)
(Strike the preamble and insert the part printed in italic.)
S. Res. 165
Whereas, in August 1991, the Ukrainian Parliament declared
independence from the Soviet Union and approved decrees to
mint its own currency and take command of all Soviet military
units on its soil;
Whereas, in December 1991, 90 percent of Ukrainians voted
in a referendum to support independence from the Soviet
Union;
Whereas Ukraine has experienced increased economic and
political cooperation with Europe and the United States since
its independence from the Soviet Union;
Whereas, in 1996, Ukraine adopted its first democratic
constitution that included basic freedoms of speech,
assembly, religion, and press;
Whereas in 2004, Ukrainians organized a series of historic
protests, strikes, and sit-ins known as the ``Orange
Revolution'' to protest electoral fraud in the 2004
presidential election;
Whereas Yulia Tymoshenko was a leader of the Orange
Revolution and was first elected as Prime Minister in 2005;
Whereas, in the 2010 presidential election, incumbent
President Viktor Yushchenko won only 5.5 percent in the first
round of voting, which left former Prime Minister Viktor
Yanukovich and then Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko to face
one another in a run-off election;
Whereas Mr. Yanukovich defeated Ms. Tymoshenko by a margin
of 49 percent to 44 percent;
Whereas, on October 11, 2011, Ms. Tymoshenko was found
guilty and sentenced to seven years in prison on charges that
she abused her position as Prime Minister in connection with
a Russian natural gas contract;
Whereas, on January 26, 2012, the Parliamentary Assembly
Council of Europe (PACE) passed a resolution (1862) that
declared that the articles under which Ms. Tymoshenko was
convicted were ``overly broad in application and effectively
allow for ex post facto criminalization of normal political
decision making'';
Whereas, on May 30, 2012, the European Parliament passed a
resolution (C153/21) deploring the sentencing of Ms.
Tymoshenko;
Whereas, on September 22, 2012, the United States Senate
passed a resolution (S. Res 466, 112th Congress) that
condemned the selective and politically motivated prosecution
and imprisonment of Yulia Tymoshenko, called for her release
based on the politicized charges, and called on the
Department of State to institute a visa ban against those
responsible for the imprisonment of Ms. Tymoshenko and the
other political leaders associated with the 2004 Orange
Revolution;
Whereas, on April 7, 2013, President of Ukraine Viktor
Yanukovich pardoned former interior minister Yuri Lutsenko
and several other opposition figures allied with Ms.
Tymoshenko;
Whereas, on April 30, 2013, the European Court of Human
Rights, which settles cases of rights abuses after plaintiffs
have exhausted appeals in their home country courts, ruled
that Ms. Tymoshenko's pre-trial detention had been arbitrary;
that the lawfulness of her pre-trial detention had not been
properly reviewed; that her right to liberty had been
restricted; and, that she had no possibility to seek
compensation for her unlawful deprivation of liberty;
Whereas, on April 30, 2013, Department of State Spokesman
Patrick Ventrell reiterated the United States call that Ms.
Tymoshenko ``be released and that the practice of selective
prosecution end immediately'' in light of the European Court
of Human Rights decision;
Whereas Ukraine hopes to sign an association agreement with
the European Union during the Eastern Partnership Summit in
November 2013; and
Whereas, after the European Court of Human Rights ruling,
European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs chairman
Elmar Brok stated that ``Ukraine is still miles away from
fulfilling European standards'' and must ``end its selective
justice'' before signing the association agreement: Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved That the Senate--
(1) calls on the Government of Ukraine to release former
Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko from imprisonment based on
politicized and selective charges and in light of the April
2013 European Court of Human Rights verdict;
(2) calls on the European Union members to include the
release of Ms. Tymoshenko from imprisonment based on
politicized and selective charges as a criterion for signing
an association agreement with Ukraine at the upcoming Eastern
Partnership Summit in Lithuania;
(3) expresses its belief and hope that Ukraine's future
rests with stronger ties to Europe, the United States, and
others in the community of democracies; and
(4) expresses its concern and disappointment that the
continued selective and politically motivated imprisonment of
former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko unnecessarily detracts
from Ukraine's otherwise strong relationship with Europe, the
United States, and the community of democracies.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I rise to speak to an issue relative to
the nation of Ukraine. It is the continued imprisonment of former
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. Sadly, for over 2 years now,
she has been languishing in prison on politicized charges that she
abused her position in connection with a natural gas contract with
Russia.
This is a photo showing the former Prime Minister's trial in Ukraine.
This occurred, as I said, more than 2 years ago.
I am not going to judge the wisdom of that contract--one of an
endless series of policy decisions any chief executive makes in most
nations. But this is an imprisonment that has been recognized by the
international community and countless human rights organizations and by
the European Court of Human Rights as selectively prosecuted and
politically motivated. This is an imprisonment that has a whiff of the
neighboring nation of Belarus, where those who run for President
against strongman dictator Alexander Lukashenko not only always lose
the election but virtually always get thrown in jail--talk about a
disincentive to run for office--but not from Ukraine, which has looked
to solidify its place among the community of democracies, do we expect
this kind of conduct.
When I visited Ukraine last May, I had the opportunity to meet with
President Yanukovich, the Prime Minister, and the Foreign Minister. I
was grateful they gave me their time. During those discussions, I
always raised the issue of Ms. Tymoshenko's imprisonment, hoping it
would be solved. They gave me kind of indirect assurances that it would
in a very brief time.
Last year, Senator Inhofe of Oklahoma, as well as Senators Boxer,
Casey, Menendez, and I, introduced a Senate resolution calling for her
release. It passed unanimously last September--over 1 year ago. Yet
here we are today, more than 1 year later and a few weeks before an
important opportunity for Ukraine to strengthen its ties to the West by
potentially signing an agreement with the European Union, and Ms.
Tymoshenko is still in jail.
This is not only embarrassing, it is disgraceful. This is a costly
distraction from all the other important issues in the Ukraine, a
nation which has such great potential. It plays into Russian President
Putin's hands, who would like nothing more than to see the European
Union Association Agreement scuttled because of the failure of the
Ukrainian Government to release Ms. Tymoshenko. Why would Ukraine's
leaders want to succumb to Russian bullying and jeopardize political
ties to the West over a simple grudge regarding the previous Prime
Minister?
I am dismayed by the seeming inability to find a reasonable
compromise that would allow Ms. Tymoshenko to seek medical treatment
abroad, a move that would allow us to instead focus on strengthening
the important ties between the United States, the European Union, and
Ukraine.
Ukraine is our friend and ally. It helped us in Libya and in
Afghanistan.
[[Page S8083]]
Its leadership rightly sees Ukraine's future with the West. But when
you join the community of democracies, you simply do not throw your
former political opponents in jail over policy disagreements. You
instead offer better ideas and beat them in an election.
That is why this summer, regrettably, I introduced a followup
resolution again calling for the release of Ms. Tymoshenko. I am happy
to note that Senators Barrasso, Boozman, Boxer, Cardin, Inhofe,
Menendez, Murphy, Portman, Rubio, Sessions, and Shaheen have joined me
on that resolution. Let me add that is not a group of Senators we see
agree on too many issues. We all agree on this. For months, we have
been waiting, assured that a resolution to Ms. Tymoshenko's case would
come to fruition. We saw Ukraine take promising steps toward political
reform. We saw some of Ms. Tymoshenko's allies pardoned.
Over the course of the last few weeks in particular, we were
optimistic that the negotiations led by former President of the
European Parliament Pat Cox and former Polish President Aleksander
Kwasniewski were seemingly making headway toward a solution in which
Ms. Tymoshenko would leave to go to Germany for medical treatment. We
were hopeful such a solution would come in time for Ukraine to sign an
association agreement with the EU during the Eastern Partnership Summit
in Vilnius at the end of this month--a step strongly supported by the
United States.
We held off in calling this resolution with the hope that real
progress would take place. But last Wednesday, after 2 years of delay
and obfuscation on this issue, the Ukrainian Parliament postponed a
vote on the bill that would have secured this resolution--a move that
only adds to the long list of missed opportunities in Ukraine. That is
why today, with some disappointment, my colleagues and I have decided
to move forward and pass this resolution in the Senate.
There is still time to find a solution before the Eastern partnership
summit takes place at the end of the month, so I am hopeful our friends
in the Ukraine will be able to find an honorable way forward to put the
best interests of the country first and end Ms. Tymoshenko's detention.
I ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported substitute
amendment to the resolution be agreed to; the resolution, as amended,
be agreed to; the committee-reported amendment to the preamble be
agreed to; the preamble, as amended, be agreed to; and the motions to
reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no
intervening action or debate.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The committee amendment in the nature of a substitute was agreed to.
The resolution, (S. Res. 165), as amended, was agreed to.
The amendment to the preamble was agreed to.
The resolution, as amended, with its preamble, as amended, was agreed
to.
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