Leader of the Batkivschyna All-Ukrainian Association and former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko has said that she has been placed under a taboo on all Ukraine's central television channels, except Channel 5 and TVi, Channel 5 reported.
That's
certainly a possibility. As Yuriy Lutsenko
discovered, Yanukovych is focused on shutting down the opposition through legal and administrative means. Taras Kuzio makes clear in
this article for Radio Free Europe, if the new government were committed to anti-corruption it would have conducted a broader audit by a more impartial auditor.
The October 2010 audit could not be classified as impartial, as it was undertaken by a law firm (Trout Catcheris) that represents Donetsk oligarch Renat Akhmetov in the United States. The audit team included Kroll Associates, who was hired in 2002 by Viktor Pinchuk, Serhiy Tihipko, and the Trudova Ukrayina Party (now renamed Silna Ukrayina) to cover up Kuchma's alleged involvement in the disappearance and murder of journalist Heorhiy Gongadze.
Moreover -- especially since Yanukovych was elected president -- no court trial or criminal investigation could be fair and in accordance with the rule of law. Ukraine's judicial system became even more corrupt during Yushchenko's presidency than it was previously. The independence of the judicial system under Yanukovych has ended.
Instead it used the audit as an excuse to weaken Tymoshenko and her allies. This year will test how committed the EU is to democracy in Ukraine or will it allow the country to slide into authoritarianism in the name of friendly relations?
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