Strasbourg, 16.08.2012 – The co-rapporteurs for Ukraine of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Mailis Reps (Estonia, ALDE) and Marietta de Pourbaix-Lundin (Sweden, EPP/CD) welcomed the release on Tuesday of Valeriy Ivaschenko, who was acting Defence Minister in the cabinet of former Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko. At the same time, they expressed their hope that his release would soon be followed by that of Juriy Lutsenko and Yulia Timoshenko whose ongoing detention is of concern to the Assembly.

"Mr Ivashchenko’s release is an important first step to resolve the issue of the imprisoned former government members in line with the expectations of the Assembly expressed in Resolution 1862 (2012," said the co-rapporteurs. "We hope that his release will now soon be followed by that of Mr Lutsenko and Ms Timoshenko, whose continued detention is hampering Ukraine’s further European integration and casting a shadow over the preparations for the upcoming parliamentary elections in Ukraine," they added.  (more)

See also:

Tunisia: inequality between men and women has no place in a democratic constitution