Ukraine's top opposition leader sentenced to jail

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/10/11/ukraine-tymoshenko.html

Tymoshenko, a leader of the Orange revolution in Ukraine, was sentenced to 7 years in jail, banned from occupying government posts for three years after the completion of her prison term and fined her 1.5 billion hryvna (around 200 million USD).

Her crime was "overextending her position of authority" by signing a gas-trade deal with Russia.

I'm all for holding politicians accountable for stuff they do, but "agreeing on a gas prize that is too high"?

This got nothing to do with any law she broke, this is purely for political reasons. :/

A positive thing though: I got to see naked women on the news channel (protesters opposing the sentence)

Christ Almighty!

Do Ukranian politicians get paid in winning lottery tickets or something?

They get paid in anti-lottery tickets of jail time and massive fines.

The fun thing is, a supposedly pro-Western politician got jailed under a supposedly pro-Russian one for signing a gas-trade deal with Russia.

(edit: supposedly, of course)

It also means that her career gets from Hot Chick In A Badass Suit phase into a Girls Behind Bars phase.

edited 11th Oct '11 11:44:09 AM by lordGacek

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/11/us-ukraine-tymoshenko-idUSL5E7LB0OQ20111011

It takes a special skill to be able to piss off the Europeans, the Americans, AND the Russians at the same time with the same action.

...I swear, what the fuck is wrong with Europe and trying to jail politicians for stupid shit? First Italy, and now Ukraine?

~sigh~

...

Because these countries suck all of Europe sucks?

Not suck, just bad about blaming politicians for things that aren't even their fault, or aren't really bad...

Like this is standard fare in, say, Germany.

I didn't say it was. I can see it becoming common in the second class countries in Europe, though, as the economy sinks further downward.

Hell of a long sentence for signing a trade deal that your political opponents don't like... Can't this get reversed on appeal or something?

edited 11th Oct '11 4:25:26 PM by SavageHeathen

They will appeal, but it's an open question how much it will help...

For some reason, this is giving me none of the usual warm fuzzies that authorities getting screwed over typically get me... Probably because she's being screwed over by other equally corrupt (and more dictatorial) politicians.

edited 11th Oct '11 4:26:14 PM by SavageHeathen

But to whose benefit? None of the usual suspects (Europe, Russia, the US) are in favor of this, and this has sullied the previously pretty good reputation of the current president.

Well... it was only good to Ukrainian people on the east-side (if I remember my geography correctly). All of Europe and North America detested this new President. Russia on the other hand does sorta gain, but since Putin is backing the former Prime Minister, I'm guessing they don't feel like spending the resources in backing a pro-Russian government in Ukraine.

edited 11th Oct '11 5:24:01 PM by breadloaf

I dunno. The new president hasn't exactly been a puppet of Russia (though certainly he's not a Western puppet like the last guy either), so I dunno if its so much Putin doesn't wanna support a pro-Russian Ukraine (its in their best interests in nearly every way to do so actually) so much that the guy in power is way too independant...of anyone.

@ Savage; Possibly because this is just blatant stupidity and probably corruption? Seriously, though, authority figures shouldn't get screwed over just because they're authority figures.

And this seems pretty blatantly pure politics. She was just doing her job in this case. Plus, the president in this case is very clearly an adversary of hers. It's removing a political obstacle, all the way here.

Does anyone else find it amusing that the "gas witch" got jailed for a gas-related crime?