Kiev - Ukraine is expected to sign an association agreement with the European Union (EU) at the EU Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, in November. However, before the treaty is signed, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych must fulfill one condition: release his main political rival, ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, from prison for medical treatment in Germany.
Yanukovych is expected to decide on her release this week. Tymoshenko received a seven-year sentence in a Kharkiv prison, but she spends most of the time in local hospital under police guard.
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Czech President Milos Zeman who met Yanukovych on Monday this week cautiously asked his counterpart to release the ex-prime minister. Zeman said that the Czech Republic supports the EU association agreement with Ukraine and that the Tymoshenko case "is a sensitive issue that would be rather harmed by premature media attention."
Zuzana Roithova, a Czech Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from the Christian-Democratic Party (KDU-CSL), is actively involved in the case. She visited Tymoshenko in Ukraine and criticized her imprisonment. In spite of this, Roithova is in favor of signing the EU association agreement with Ukraine
"It is important to make sure that Ukraine has a pro-European orientation, which is made available by this agreement. That's why I would not connect this too closely with Tymoshenko. But if she is released and leaves for medical treatment, it will be the outcome of European pressure on Yanukovych. He is now in a position where it is beneficial for him to release her," said Roithova.
The Czech MEP also said that Tymoshenko's medical condition is serious.
"I gave her a magnetic resonance imagining exam and there were possibly irreversible changes. Moreover, she was under psychological pressure. Her cell was monitored by CCTV cameras 24 hours a day and the lights were on even during the night. When I was there, she refused to eat prison food and take her medicine, because she was afraid of the consequences. She was worried that they might feed her, for example, radioactive substances. But I think that the European pressure made them give up these intentions, because samples could get out," said Roithova.
The association treaty is beneficial to Ukraine's exports and industry and is backed by the country's businessmen and oligarchs, including those who support Yanukovych, in spite of Russia's threats of economic sanctions and trade cuts.
Russia wants Ukraine to join its proposed Eurasian Union with Belarus, Kazakhstan and other ex-Soviet republics.
