The lawyers who deal with the defence of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko will reach out to the Council of Ministers of the Council of Europe (CoE), Itar-Tass reported.
According to the agency, the defence believes this measure was necessary due to the situation that has arisen in connection with the failure of Ukraine to implement the judgement of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).
In April this year, the Strasbourg-based court found that the pre-trial detention of imprisoned Tymoshenko has been arbitrary, its lawfulness had not been properly reviewed and that she had no possibility to seek compensation for her unlawful deprivation of liberty.
However, the European court held by majority that there had been no violation of Article 3 of the Convention (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment) in respect of Tymoshenko’s alleged ill-treatment during her transfer to hospital in Kharkiv on 20 April 2012 and the effectiveness of the investigation of those complaints.
Tymoshenko’s defence believes that the Ukrainian government has officially refused to comply with the ECtHR decision because of the reluctance of the High Specialized Court of Ukraine to send the ex-premier's appeal against her sentence to the Supreme Court.
According to one the ex-premier’s lawyers, cited by Itar-Tass, the deadline for this has lapsed on 19 August.
Local media reported last week that the Ukrainian government is holding intensive talks with the European Union (EU) over the release of the former PM and her possible treatment in Germany stays high on the agenda.
Yulia Tymoshenko was jailed for seven years in 2011 on charges of overstepping her authority while prime minister by agreeing a gas deal with Russia. Her top ally, former Ukrainian interior minister Yuri Lutsenko, walked free in early April after Ukraine’s president, Viktor Yanukovych, signed a decree pardoning him and another former governmental official.
Even though many saw Lutsenko’s pardon as a breakthrough in the case of ex-prime minister, President Yanukovych refused to pardon Tymoshenko, saying that the procedure was impossible as long as her trials were under way.