On August 5th Kyiv’s Pecherskyi District Court allowed the appeal by the Attorney General’s Office on extending the precautionary measures on the former prime minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko to detention. This ruling was made under no influence on the part of the bodies of the Executive. According to the principle of independent Judiciary which is instrumental to a democratic society, any appeals to Ukraine’s leadership urging it to reconsider this ruling are essentially groundless. Ukraine’s Executive stands aside the trial of Yulia Tymoshenko and has no intention to get involved therein.

At the same time, in view of the natural interest of Ukraine’s foreign partners to this legal case the MFA of Ukraine deems appropriate to stress on a number of obvious considerations that are well known to those who have directly followed the court proceedings.

The respect to the Judiciary is the cornerstone of any established democracy. Ukraine’s Judiciary system, like many other political and societal institutes undergoes currently the process of overhaul.It’s not devoid of imperfections, in removing which Ukraine highly values the expert support of international organizations and partner countries.

At the same time the demonstrative disrespect to the court displayed by the former prime minister creates an impression that a high ranking politician can afford behaving in a court in the way that would be unthinkable to any average citizen. The conscious, systemic neglect to the legal norms similar to those applied in absolute majority of the European states as well as Yulia Tymoshenko’s undisguised disregard to most participants of the trial constituted the kind of infringements of the law that couldn’t remain without proper repercussions. Yulia Tymoshenko is since years accustomed to putting herself above the rules and truth. However this time around she attempted to put herself above the law as such – and had to be stopped by the court’s respective ruling.