EU issues new warning on selective justice

   Catherine Ashton, EU High Representative issued a statement on Wednesday 30 January following her meeting with Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara. The meeting came on the same day that former Interior Minister Yury Lutsenko was returned to the Mensk Prison Colony following serious surgery.  As reported, his return came entirely without warning and while Mr Lutsenko was still receiving intensive therapy following intestinal surgery.  This was, apparently, raised during the meeting.

With respect to the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, the Foreign Affairs Council has been quite unequivocal.

“The Foreign Affairs Council last December set concrete criteria and a timeframe for the possible signing of the Association Agreement with its Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area. Signature of the agreement will, however, only be possible if progress is sufficient. I therefore call on Ukraine to use this opportunity for a breakthrough in our relations and take determined action to achieve tangible progress on the benchmarks set in the Conclusions. The benchmarks are clearly achievable, but time is short.

In the meeting today I reiterated how important it is that Ukraine addresses the cases of selective justice and prevents their recurrence. In this context, I expressed concern about recent developments related to Yulia Tymoshenko and her close collaborators, and about the overall political context in which these developments are taking place