From the London Guardian:
The European Union has protested against the jailing of the Ukrainian opposition leader, Yulia Tymoshenko, by calling off high-level talks with the country's president, Viktor Yanukovych.
Yanukovych was due to meet the European commission's president, José Manuel Barroso, and the European council president, Herman Van Rompuy, in Brussels on Thursday for final stage negotiations on a free trade treaty and an association agreement that would bind the ex-Soviet country to Europe.
EU officials cancelled the talks on Tuesday, saying the timing wasn't right. The move came one week after Tymoshenko, a former prime minister, was sentenced to seven years in prison in a trial she and her supporters say was motivated by revenge.
"The meeting is postponed to a later occasion when the conditions will be more conducive to making progress in bilateral relations," a spokeswoman for Lady Ashton, the EU's foreign policy chief, said. A spokesman for Van Rompuy said Ukraine had to make improvements on key issues.
The EU had repeatedly warned Yanukovych that it viewed the trial as politically motivated, and that it would closely watch its results for signs that Ukraine had adopted "European values" such as an independent judiciary. It condemned the verdict last week. Tymoshenko was found guilty of abusing her power while signing a gas deal with Russia as prime minister in 2009...
Ukraine president faces EU protests over jailing of opposition leader
Miriam Elder and David Gow
Tuesday 18 October 2011
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/18/ukraine-eu-protests-opposition-leader
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