Ukraine Scraps Summit Boycotted over Tymoshenko

An undated picture made available on 27 April 2012 shows Yulia Tymoshenko showing her bruises, from alleged beatings by prison guards, in Kachanivska prison in Kharkiv, Ukraine. EPA/BGNES

The 18th Central European Summit that was to take place on May 11-12 in Ukraine's Yalta has been postponed over the boycott declared by several European politicians, it has been announced.

Several European leaders, including Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev, refused to attend the event over concerns about the treatment of jailed former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

German President Joachim Gauck, Albanian President Bamir Topi, Latvian President Andris Berzins, Bosnia and Herzegovina Presidency Chairman Bakir Izetbegovic, Montenegrin President Filip Vujanovic, Czech President Vaclav Klaus and Croatian President Ivo Josipovic have also refused to attend the Summit.

"Ukraine finds it sensible to postpone the Summit," said Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry press secretary Oleksandr Dikusarov, as cited by the Ukrainian News Agency.

"The event will be held at a later time that will be determined through diplomatic channels," he added.

Tymoshenko has launched a hunger strike to protest her alleged beating in jail, where she is serving a seven-year sentence. She has been sentenced for abuse of power for making a gas supply contract with Russia in 2009, after the Russian-Ukrainian gas crisis; she herself claims that her political rival, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych is using the country's judiciary to punish her.

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