Yulia Tymoshenko will continue the hunger strike to protest against alleged vote-rigging

Party deputy head Oleksander Turchinov told journalists soon after the meeting  with Yulia Tymoshenko:

“Of course we asked Yulia Volodymyrivna (Tymoshenko) to stop the hunger strike because her health is important for the party and I think for the whole Ukraine, but the situation in many constituencies and information how openly and cynically the results of the people’s vote are beng falsified enrage her of course. The only thing she can do against it in this situation is to declare the hunger strike. That’s why we couldn’t convince Yulia Volodymyrivna to stop it and she will continue (hunger strike) until the Ukrainian society gives a clear assessment of what is happening now in many constituencies and regions.”

Tymoshenko’s letter alleging that the Oct. 28 parliamentary election was rigged and announcing that she is going on a hunger strike in protest

Dear Ukrainians,

From July 30 to Oct. 28, the most unfair elections in the history of the independent Ukraine were held.

To admit that they were fair or partly fair, or that they were elections at all, means to tell all the people who corrupted voters in single-member constituencies, suppressed TVi and other independent channels; all the people who organized “carousels” and forged certificates of non-existent illnesses to rig home voting; to tell everyone who in front of video cameras threw in piles of ballot papers filled in by the same hand – the hand of the [Viktor] Yanukovych regime; to tell all the people who took decisions in the Central Election Commission to register false parties and use their resources to form subordinated election commissions; to tell all the people who distributed food packages and paid money in districts; to tell all these clear lawbreakers, including criminals: “Guys, you have done everything right, act like this in future, we’re ready to say black is white, evil is good, and the people who rigged ballot are honest politicians, because we are all in favor of political opportunism and political expediency and not of the truth and European values.”

It is impossible to say the elections were fair and legitimate at a time when every Ukrainian citizen knows that money and food packages were offered to him and many people took them; to say the elections were fair and legitimate when every Ukrainian citizen knows that power structures and administrative resource applied violence to them; when hundreds of thousands of election commissions members took money for forging protocols; when every citizen knows that all TV channels campaigned dirtily 24/7 in favor of the ruling regime; and when everyone read resolutions of the international community about political repressions in Ukraine.

To admit these elections were fair and legitimate is to fully demoralize the Ukrainian nation and the part of our people who still believes in justice and European choice despite the extraordinary efforts of the ruling regime to rig the ballot.

The national exit-poll showed that 73 percent of Ukrainian citizens voted against Yanukovych, against his corrupted, bankrupt policy and that the legitimacy of his regime was completely lost. The elections outcome is a verdict for the oligarchy, its godfather and their clans.

And if – thanks to corruption in single-mandate constituencies – they implement the result, if they manage to “correct” it by means of false protocols from bribed precinct and district commissions and to distort the national exit poll; if thanks to the unfair means they form their majority in the Verkhovna Rada that will be recognized by Ukraine and the world, then this will be a signal for all post-communist regimes that fair elections can be killed and that everything can be “doctored to death.”

Political expediency and willingness to compromise can legalize everything, but where to hide the real choice made by people? Where to put 225 files with clear proof that massive voter bribing was carried out in all election constituencies by all — I stress ALL candidates from the ruling party in single member constituencies?

How to legalize corruption, Yanukovych’s sons, fellows, friends, henchmen and his entourage?
I will not act in the name of political expediency and I will not call clear lies the truth. These elections were rigged from the first to the last day; and to hide this fact means to destroy Ukraine’s future.

I express my solidarity with the Ukrainian World Congress, with conclusions of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europea, as well as with the position of Andreas Gross, Head of the PACE Monitoring Group, expressed some weeks ago; and I state clearly that 73 percent of Ukrainian citizens want to remove the Yanukovych authoritarian regime, and gave the mandate for this to all oppositional forces. Everything that is different from the result in the elections is rigged and forged.

I don’t consider the parliament, where a majority rigged in such a way will rule despite the will of people, to be legitimate. If I were with you now and could act freely, without any doubts I would call you for continuous protest actions. And we together would put those who rigged the elections to their place as we have done many times before.

But now, being behind bars, I cannot call you to go out into the streets because I cannot guarantee that these protests will be peaceful and organized in the best way. That is why I do what I can in these conditions. I go on hunger strike to protest against the vote rigging and illegitimacy of the parliament. I know and I believe that most Ukrainians will understand and support me,

Your
Yulia Tymoshenko

 

Yanukovych uses hidden cameras for observation of Yulia Tymoshenko’s treatment

The 16-th of October, Ukrainian TV chanels demonstrate video track with Yulia Tymoshenko on it. Jailed opposition leader,  ex-PM of Ukraine , has treatment in Ukrzaliznytsia clinic (Kharkiv) because of serious troubling in her back. She is the patient  of german doctors (Charite clinic, Berlin) , who from time to time arrive in Ukraine to treat Yulia Tymoshenko.

From the begining it was the scandalous story. In april, Yulia Tymoshenko was beaten, when she was moved to Ukrzaliznytsia clinic. In may, ex-PM claimed that the Ukrainian authorities use hidden cameras for observation of the process of her treatment in Ukrzaliznytsia clinic (Kharkiv). The ukrainian government ignored her cries. It was like Tymoshenko has no rights for any attention of “their honor”. She was made like someone who came out of mind. And now the fact of amoral observation became known.

The rulers of Ukraine were caught by their own stupidity and fear. On the 28-th of October the parliamentary elections will pass in Ukraine. Yulia Tymoshenko and her party is still the main competitor for ruling Party of Regions and for Yanukovych — the head of Ukraine. So, how anyone can assume, the top Ukrainian leaders wanted to show that Tymoshenko isn’t sick but she just lies. Perhaps they considered such videos of Yulia Tymoshenko as a convincing argument in their election campaign against opposition.

Nevertheless, video track was released. Yulia Tymoshenko reacted on this fact in her opened letter to citizen (in her own words) Viktor Yanukovych:

Viktor Fedorovych!

Yesterday, moving around the prison that you have turned my hospital room into, I saw on all the TV channels videos of my prison life, filmed with hidden cameras. Given the extreme immorality of your action, I decided to write you this open letter.

Firstly – I confirm the authenticity of 90% of these recordings. Especially the parts involving my physical therapy sessions with a physical therapist in the treatment room.

Secondly – the video from the treatment room and other premises were made with hidden surveillance cameras that were installed on direct orders from you. Now the fact of constant hidden video surveillance has been proved and this is your crime.

Thirdly – many of the medical procedures that take place in the treatment room require that I undress, and the hidden video cameras record all of this and continue to record this during the entire period of my treatment. This is a moral crime that you are committing.

Fourthly – prison staff that support me, after the videos were shown on TV, gave me a plan with the exact location of these hidden video cameras that were installed on your orders in the rooms where I spend time. The public may be interested in knowing that there are three cameras in the room for confidential meetings with my lawyers, two cameras in the shower stall and one above each of the two toilets (sorry for the details). There are so many hidden surveillance cameras that it’s impossible to hide from them, day or night.

And lastly – there is a special room by my prison cell with monitors showing round-the-clock video of me. Male officers who work in the colony are responsible for it, male officers that work in the prosecutor’s office cover it up, and male officers working in the SBU provide technical support. This is done demonstratively, openly, before my eyes, obviously for additional psychological pressure. Unfortunately, the officers that serve the president take their cue from him.

These videos are sent to you electronically every day.

In connection with these circumstances I don’t have any requests or suggestions for you.

Should I ask you to stop this disgrace! But you organized it yourself. Should I ask you to open a criminal case against those doing this dirty work? But will your prosecutor general open a criminal case against You? You’re the ideologue, organizer and executor of this unprecedented disgusting act. Therefore, I have only three questions that I ask you to respond to publicly.

First – what is it that you personally want to see on the videos made with the hidden cameras in the shower, toilet, prison call, rooms where I undergo treatment fully undressed?

What do you do with these films? Do you watch them alone or in cheerful company with friends? Maybe you get more self-confidence in your political capability by watching a female political opponent naked? Maybe you enjoy this specific power over your political opponent and its makes you feel stronger and more successful?

If you answered all these questions positively, then this, Viktor Fedorovych, is a diagnosis and you need to urgently seek anonymous treatment, because it may become chronic.

Second question. When will your channels show the continuation of this series that you find so interesting? When can we expect nude videos? Maybe you think that by showing these materials you’re humiliating me? No. You’re humiliating yourself, showing Ukraine and the world your true self. All the videos made with hidden cameras about my prison life turn you in the eyes of normal people into…better that you now know…

And my last question. Perhaps you’d like to try putting your wife Lyudmyla or your mother, if she’s still alive, under constant public video surveillance and shown live on the Internet? Show on your channels how they live, how they sleep, how they undress, take a shower, or do their business. If you have such exotic fantasies to secretly monitor the private life of women like a “behind the glass” show, start with the women in your family.

Maybe then you’ll understand the difference between sadism and morality, between vileness and dignity.

Given that I know very well who I’m dealing with and fully understand your psychological portrait, I don’t blame you of anything, I even forgive you.

You are the way you are. And nobody can change you. Darwinism can’t change a jackal into a lion, or vice versa.

Besides these questions, I don’t have any requests from you.

My request is to all the women of Ukraine and the world with dignity, honor and solidarity. Before you speak with Yanukovych, just recall that he is watching, round-the-clock, the prison life of his female political opponent through cameras hidden in the toilet and don’t shake his hand, because you’ll never be able to wash it clean.

I have the same request to the men of Ukraine and abroad who love their mothers, wives, daughters and sisters.

Don’t shake hands with Yanukovych, because by doing so you are humiliating all women with dignity, you are supporting Yanukovych and his dirty daily activities.

And you, Viktor Fedorovych, I am informing that I am refusing “treatment” that is under video cameras aired on TV and the Internet, and is more like being in the torture chambers of the GULAG. In those conditions people are crippled, not treated.

I demand that I be returned to the colony in the condition I am. I will be treated when I am free, when you are no longer prying on me through a keyhole.

I hope the European Court of Human Rights makes a judgment that will make Ukrainians understand who you are and will remove you as president along with your mafia.

Without respect to you,
Yulia Tymoshenko
17 October 2012

Before this occasion took place, doctor from Berlin’s Charite hospital said the conditions necessary for the proper treatment of Yulia Tymoshenko are impossible in Ukraine. 

“The proper situation obviously can’t be ensured given the current conditions in Ukraine. The Charite clinic is ready to offer similar multimodal therapy. Despite everything and under all circumstances, in order to maintain and improve function it is necessary to continue therapeutic measures that were applied to this time, to prevent further deterioration and chronicity. Charite doctors remain ready to take part in long-term treatment”

The doctors also believe that the constant rescheduling of court hearings, round-the-clock video surveillance, constant presence by security guards even during conversations with doctors, release of confidential medical documents and videos by the media exacerbate the disease and make a full recovery impossible. “The uncontrolled video surveillance with cameras controlled by men limits the patient’s willingness to move freely,” the physicians said.

“The findings based on the last examination conducted by Dr Lutz Harms on September 17, 2012, describe the chronicity of the disease. From a medical point of view, the enormous psychological pressure and inability to hold confidential therapy-related conversations between the patient and doctor is a major obstacle to recovery,” they stressed.

In their findings from October 19, the doctors expressed their opinion regarding the release of videos of Yulia Tymoshenko. “The Charite doctors strongly criticize the release of videos showing Mrs. Yulia Tymoshenko in the hospital and for which she did not give her consent. This is yet another serious violation of the principle of trust that every patient should expect without restriction. This is the latest wrongful act,” they said.

Yulia Tymoshenko starting on October 17 refused to take drugs and undergo treatment as a result of the violation her right to privacy and is asking to be returned to the Kachanivska penal colony.

 

Yulia Tymoshenko: Every intelligent and responsible person must protest against the mutation of social life. If you do not have the heart for this, an executor will stand behind everyone’s back

Statement of Leader of the opposition Yulia Tymoshenko

On Friday, 28 October, from 16:00 I started a protest action in Ukrzaliznytsia hospital, the one I can afford in the circumstances. On this day, I was again deprived of my right for the monthly meeting with people who, according to law, can be chosen by the imprisoned person himself/herself. The right is directly granted in the Code of Criminal Procedure for every imprisoned person, and it is clear that I have not exhausted any meeting quotas. But for political prisoners this law does not work.

As a protest, I did not return to my hospital ward and during two days and nights I stayed on the floor near the door where my colleagues were illegally not allowed, and I insisted that the law allowing them to visit me was executed.

But the essence of my protest is not the struggle for my rights – I am sure that the regime’s propaganda machine will speculate on this. I ask honest journalists not to help them with this. The main purpose of my protest is to draw attention to the fact that in the Yanukovych land we no longer have laws for all 46 million of people. The force of laws has been stolen together with Ukrtelecom, the Mezhygirya, money for EURO and all other things. In the Yanukovych land, laws no longer have the function of the fundamental basis of the country’s life.

Today, whatever our Ukrainian laws mean, it does not matter. There is only one law of the jungle effective, the law of power of the gang and their dubious leader. Power structures, the Parliament, courts, fainthearted officials live not by laws, but according to orders from the state master and his “agents” on the ground.

I can see by military men that they are ready to execute every illegal and dirty order they obtain, and the only thing they worry about is whether they get a bonus or next promotion – they really think they deserve this.

I am protesting against the fact that, the same as they have neglected the Constitution and laws while applying violence against me, they have stolen from 46 millions of citizens the right to rely upon the law, to believe in the law and to be protected by the law. The fate of people in Ukraine and their lives are now determined not by rights and freedoms, but by unlawful orders and interests of Yanukovych and his subordinates of all levels. They are the law now. There are hundreds of thousands of people around them – obedient officials, judges and other public marauders, executors of the high orders: if they are told to beat they will beat; if they are told to shoot they will shoot; if they are told to try illegally they will try illegally; if they are told to take away your last rights and money, have no doubts, they will. They will do this eagerly, expecting to obtain rewards and promotions. This is what I am protesting against. This is my silent cry.

Now, at the moment when I am writing the appeal, they are constructing a new cage around me to break me and my will, they are putting additional bars, they are taking away the most necessary things, they have closed the toilet room and have put a triple number of guards around me. The Penitentiary Service has given me a piece of paper saying that they stop my treatment and discharge me from the hospital as the next act of revenge for my position. But they must realize that everything they do is in vain, I am not as weak-hearted as the officers on duty. It will not be easy for them to deal with me.

The most important thing is that chaos without laws and limits is grasping the country. In such circumstances countries do not survive. No one wants do deal with such countries. I am protesting against this. Every intelligent and responsible person must protest against the mutation of social life. If you do not have the heart for this, an executor will stand behind everyone’s back. Do we want such a country? Is this the life we have dreamed about?

My protest may be too weak and insufficient against the general contractor of building the country of slaves who help him with this so readily and actively. The law about criminal liability for libel is only the beginning; they will further do what we allow them to do and what we tolerate. Fight! We still have a chance to stop them.

Your Yulia Tymoshenko

 

Tymoshenko asks MEPs to declare Rada election undemocratic, illegitimate

Former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko has called on European politicians to declare the Ukrainian parliamentary election campaign as one that is not up to the European democratic standards and those of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

The message was voiced before the European Parliament by Tymoshenko’s daughter Yevhenia, who is currently in Brussels to meet with leaders of the largest political groups in this European institution.

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Corruption? Murder? It would have made more sense to accuse me of starting an earthquake: Heroine of Ukraine’s Orange Revolution begs West to act against ‘Mafia Godfathers’ who have taken her country

With her trademark blonde plaits and fiery rhetoric, Yulia Tymoshenko became the glamorous heroine of Ukraine’s Orange Revolution – before being jailed by the man she ousted.

Now, in a remarkable interview smuggled out of the prison hospital room where she lies in constant pain, she has condemned fresh allegations linking her to a murder as so ridiculous that they are akin to saying she caused an earthquake.

And in a plea to Western powers to scrutinise the ‘dictatorship’ she claims is being built by Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, she accuses the country’s Mafia-like leaders of endemic corruption.

Crooked contracts, she says, lose the former communist state £125 billion a year, with projects such as the building of stadiums for this summer’s Euro 2012 football championships costing far more than their true value.

Mrs Tymoshenko became Prime Minister after the 2004 revolution to rapturous public acclaim. It seemed Ukraine was finally set to throw off the shackles of its Soviet past and embrace democracy.
Today, however, the defiant 52-year-old – who refers to her distinctive plaits as her ‘chain armour’ that ‘protects me from threats’ – has become a symbol of the repression of freedom.

Suffering from a back condition, she languishes in a shared room in a prison hospital in the city of Kharkiv, where she is serving seven years for abusing her prime ministerial power.

Last week Mrs Tymoshenko lost her appeal against conviction on charges connected to her signing of a Russian gas contract, which she claims are a tissue of lies inspired by Yanukovych, the man she helped remove from power in 2004 but who returned to defeat her in the 2010 presidential election.
‘Ukraine is a vital link for Europe: our energy transportation networks; our location between the European Union and Eurasia. We’re the melting pot of Catholicism and Orthodox Christianity. The democracy we founded with the Orange Revolution has to be an example for other post-Soviet states.

‘If the West allows our democracy to be ruined, this example will be lost. You will see an authoritarian conglomerate forming on the European borders.’

Her greatest scorn is reserved for Yanukovych, who was Prime Minister at the time of the rigged elections that inspired the Orange Revolution and returned as president in 2010 after years of bitter infighting among the alliance that had overthrown him.

She said: ‘When he was elected president, he had an unbelievable second chance to put right his failures from before the Orange Revolution, to become a respected leader and to take Ukraine forward to EU membership.

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