[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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