(Adds quotes)
* Tusk: Ukraine’s reputation could plunge over Tymoshenko
case
WARSAW, May 3 (Reuters) – Poland said on Thursday Ukraine’s
reputation would “suffer dramatically” if no humanitarian
solution for the case of jailed ex-premier Yulia Tymoshenko were
found, but criticised calls for a boycott of the pending
European soccer tournament in Ukraine.
The imprisonment of Tymoshenko, who helped organise the June
soccer championships while in office and is the main political
rival of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich, has called into
question Kiev’s efforts to move closer to the European Union.
“I have left Ukraine’s prime minister and president in no
doubt that the (Tymoshenko) case …is a test of credibility for
the present Ukrainian authorrities and that the reputation of
Ukraine would suffer dramatically if it does not find a solution
that we deem civilised before the European championship,” Polish
Prime Minister Donald Tusk told a news conference.
“I think the calls for a boycott are inappropriate. I
understand the politicians who sympathise with Yulia Tymoshenko,
but nothing stands in their way to express this sympathy in a
clear way during the championships,” Tusk said.
“I am convinced that Yulia Tymoshenko would not want her
great effort and work (to bring the Euro soccer championships to
Ukraine) to be wasted,” said the Polish prime minister, whose
country will be co-hosting the event.
Led by Germany, leaders of several EU countries have called
off scheduled visits to Ukraine during the Euro 2012, which
starts in just over a month, in protest at Tymoshenko’s
treatment under Yanukovich’s leadership.
Tymoshenko, 51, was jailed last October for seven years on a
conviction of abuse of power as prime minister, a case described
by many in Europe as politically motivated. She has been on
hunger strike after saying she had been beaten by prison guards,
an accusation denied by jail authorities.
On Wednesday, Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski warned
against a Western boycott of Ukraine during the soccer
championships, saying this would send the former Soviet republic
back into the arms of Russia.
The EU has condemned Tymoshenko’s conviction as an example
of selective justice and warned Ukraine that its members would
not ratify agreements on political association and free trade as
long as she remains in prison.
(Reporting by Marcin Goettig; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
