Former Prime Minister of Ukraine Yu. V. Tymoshenko was recently found guilty of abuse of office and sentenced to 7 years in prison. Not only in Ukraine, but also in a number of foreign countries, this verdict is viewed by people as unfair and politically motivated. Say, the current government, represented by the President of Ukraine V. F. Yanukovych and the Donetsk group behind him simply dealt with the leader of the political opposition, fearing Tymoshenko's popularity.
The Western press spares no effort trying to present the convicted woman as an implacable fighter against corruption and almost the standard of democracy. Some leaders of Western countries are putting open pressure on V. F. Yanukovych demanding to cancel the sentence and release the "prisoner of conscience".
But was Tymoshenko really a victim of a political struggle? This version does not stand up to even the most superficial criticism. Tymoshenko was officially convicted for the fact that in 2009 she arbitrarily forged the directives of the Cabinet of Ministers of her country before concluding gas contracts with Russia. On her direct instructions, a forged document was made, certified by her signature and the seal of the Cabinet of Ministers. It was using this forgery that Tymoshenko put pressure on the management of Netfegaz Ukraine, forcing him to sign an agreement that was extremely disadvantageous for the country. Moreover, the details of the agreement were hidden from the top officials of Ukraine and from its parliament! This is absolutely unheard of.
Under the laws of any country, such behavior of a high official is clearly criminal. Moreover, in some states, whose leaders speak out especially loudly in defense of the die-hard democracy, a defendant found guilty of such a crime would receive a much harsher punishment.
It should also be noted that when passing a sentence, the court is also obliged to consider the personality of the defendant, to assess his previous behavior. It is known that one of Tymoshenko's previous bosses, former Prime Minister of Ukraine P. Lazarenko, was convicted in the United States for corruption and laundering of criminally acquired money. In the decision of the American court Yu. V. Tymoshenko was directly named his accomplice. There are also a number of verdicts by Russian courts that tried corruption cases in the RF Ministry of Defense. And there the companies headed by Tymoshenko were caught in very unseemly acts. Of course, when determining the measure of punishment, the court took into account these well-known facts.
