H.Res. 28 — Introduced in House

IV 113th CONGRESS 1st Session H. RES. 28 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES January 14, 2013 Ms. Kaptur submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs RESOLUTION Condemning the persecution of political opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko as well as other political prisoners, among them former internal affairs minister Yuri Lutsenko. Whereas these trials have been seen by the international community as political persecution against the opposition of the government of Ukrainian President Viktor Yan­u­ko­vych; Whereas starting on May 2010 a number of criminal cases were opened against Yulia Tymoshenko and against ministers and officials from the previous government led by her under the assertion that these cases were brought forth to fight corruption in Ukraine; Whereas Ms. Tymoshenko was charged in May 2011 over abuse of office in regards to a 2009 natural gas import contract with Russia and her trial began on June 24, 2011; Whereas, on August 5, 2011, the court ruled that Ms. Tymoshenko was in contempt of court and imprisoned her for the remainder of her trial, a period of over two months; Whereas the fairness of the trial has been in question due to Ms. Tymoshenko being denied legal representation on two occasions and not being offered an appropriate amount of time for her defense team to prepare for trial; Whereas, during her imprisonment, Ms. Tymoshenko began to show signs of severe illness and the court refused her request to be examined by a personal physician; Whereas, on October 11, 2011, the court found Ms. Ty­mo­shen­ko guilty of abuse of power, sentenced her to seven years in jail, fined her $189 million and banned her from holding elected office for a period of 3 years disqualifying her from participating in the 2012 parliamentary and 2015 presidential elections; Whereas, in September 2011, in commemoration of Ukraine's 20th anniversary of independence, H. Res. 401 notes concern about the appearance of politically motivated prosecutions of opposition figures in Ukraine, among them Ms. Tymoshenko; and Whereas world governments have lambasted the decision against Ms. Tymoshenko calling it politically motivated and questioned Ukraine’s commitment to democracy and rule of law: Now, therefore, be it That the House of Representatives— (1) condemns the verdict against Yulia Ty­mo­shen­ko as well as the unfair circumstances in which the trial took place and requests that she be released from custody while the verdict is appealed; (2) demands the Government of Ukraine immediately release all political prisoners as well as provides proper medical care to all those that have been imprisoned; and (3) demands that Ukraine adhere to the principles of democracy and rule of law by respecting human rights, freedom of the press, and the protection of free speech and the right to assemble peacefully.