And rightfully so.
It is a gross miscarriage of justice and a politically-motivated show trial designed to put an opposition leader out of action. It harks back to the Stalinist show trial of the 1930s and cements the Yanukovych regime’s return to the dictatorial ways of the ex-USSR.
Tymoshenko was convicted of “abuse of power” for supposedly negotiating a bad gas deal with Russia.
It is as if the Stephen Harper government exerted pressure upon Canada’s judiciary to convict former Prime Minister Jean Chretien of negotiating a bad deal with the North American Free Trade Agreement. Or if the Chretien Government convicted former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney of negotiating a bad deal with the Canada-U.S Free Trade Agreement.
Sounds ludicrous?
Of course it is. But what seems ludicrous in Canada is reality in Ukraine. The irony of it all is that President Viktor Yanukovych is himself a convicted criminal. And that’s two counts of assault — not some trumped-up “abuse of power” fabrication. In most countries that would make him ineligible to run for office.
In a statement issued the same day of the conviction and sentencing, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird stated: “Today’s developments may have serious consequences for our bilateral relationship.”
While he did not specify what that meant, the statement is nevertheless encouraging.
The European Union has already indicated that the free-trade and association agreements it was negotiating with Ukraine is in jeopardy.
Polish member of the European Parliament Jacek Saryusz-Wolski has come up with the idea that talks should be completed, but the agreement not be ratified so that it could stand as a symbol of what relations between Brussels and Ukraine could potentially have been.
Canada finds itself in a very similar situation as we are currently negotiating a free trade agreement with Ukraine. The Ukrainian Canadian Congress has called upon the government of Canada to use those negotiations as a lever to ensure that Ukraine adheres to basic human rights, as have a number of former Canadian ambassadors to Ukraine, including Derek Fraser, who first brought up this idea at the November 2010 Congress of the UCC.
That is one option. Another is imposing sanctions on travel and freezing the assets of those Ukrainian officials involved in human rights abuses. The opposition has asked the EU to impose such sanctions. Where applicable, Canada may do the same.
The United States is considering declaring Yanukovych persona non grata. That is yet another option.
Peter Goldring, member of Parliament for Edmonton East, has called for the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development to extensively examine the Canada-Ukraine geo-political realities of today. That too deserves consideration.
Canada has been proud of its special relationship with Ukraine. But Canada has always been deeply committed to the development of democracy in Ukraine. It is very clear that Ukraine is no longer a democracy and Canada must take a strong stand against this most regressive direction.
US President Theodore Roosevelt once said that in foreign policy the best approach is to “speak softly, but carry a big stick”.
That is good advice, because when dealing with thugs like Yanukovych, the big stick is the only language they understand.
Marco Levytsky is the editor and publisher of Ukrainian News, an independent bi-weekly newspaper based in Edmonton and distributed across Canada.
