By Boris Berner
BERLIN, April 29 (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel
could cancel her visit to Ukraine during the Euro 2012 soccer
tournament in June if jailed former prime minister Yulia
Tymoshenko is not released by then, Germany’s Der Spiegel
magazine reported on Sunday.
The European Union saw Tymoshenko’s jailing last October as
politically motivated and has criticised her abuse-of-office
conviction. The case has strained ties between the former Soviet
republic and the European Union it aspires to join one day.
European politicians are also alarmed by her allegations she
was beaten by prison guards this month – an accusation denied by
prison authorities – as well as by concerns over her health.
Germany has been particularly critical.
“If Tymoshenko is not released by the start of the Euro in
June, the German footballers will then most likely have to play
without Merkel being in attendance,” the magazine said, without
naming any sources.
Ukraine is co-hosting the June 8-July 1 tournament together
with neighbouring Poland. Merkel usually travels to attend
important matches involving the Germany team.
Tymoshenko, 51, the main political rival of President Viktor
Yanukovich, is serving a seven-year prison term in the city of
Kharkiv. She has been on hunger strike for more than a week.
Der Spiegel said if Merkel did not go, other cabinet members
were likely to follow suit. A spokesman for the German
government declined comment on the report.
German President Joachim Gauck said last week he had
canceled a planned visit to Ukraine next month. The former human
rights activist had been due to attend a meeting of central
European heads of state in Ukraine’s Black Sea resort of Yalta.
On Friday, Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert said a
decision on whether the chancellor would attend matches in
Ukraine depended on the situation.
“Obviously further developments in Ukraine and the
Tymoshenko case would play a role in the decision,” he said.
Other EU nations have also been alarmed. On Sunday, Italy’s
Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi said he was following the case
with “growing concern”.
“The news…that Ms Tymoshenko was said to be recently faced
with physical violence during a transfer from prison to hospital
can’t help but raise serious alarm,” he said in a statement.
Berlin has repeatedly offered to treat Tymoshenko, who
suffers from back pain, in a German hospital.
A poll by German newspaper Bild am Sonntag found that 52
percent of Germans are in favour of Merkel and her ministers
staying away from matches in Ukraine.
The poll also found 50 percent of Germans were opposed to
Euro matches taking place in Ukraine in the first place.
Sigmar Gabriel, leader of the centre-left Social Democrats,
and Claudia Roth, head of the Greens, said it would be a mistake
for German leaders to appear in Ukraine while Tymoshenko was in
jail.
“Politicians need to watch out that they’re not being used
as cheerleaders for the regime at the European championships,”
Gabriel said through social media. “Because it’s possible they’d
be sitting in stadia next to jail wardens and secret police.”
Roth told reporters in Luebeck: “Politicians (from Germany)
shouldn’t take on the role of extras for a dictatorship.”
(Writing By Erik Kirschbaum, Additional reporting by Catherine
Hornby in Rome, Editing by Maria Golovnina)
