JURIST - Paper Chase: Saturday, December 10, 2011

[JURIST] A Ukrainian court on Thursday ordered the indefinite arrest of former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko [personal website, JURIST news archive] despite the chance that her current seven-year sentence [JURIST report] may still be overturned, drawing international criticism. Because Tymoshenko had already begun serving time on her original abuse-of-office charges when the court issued the order, the former prime minister was re-arrested in her cell at a Kiev detention center. This time, prosecutors are alleging that Tymoshenko was involved in tax evasion and theft of government funds between 1996 and 2000, a time when she led the intermediary gas company United Energy Systems. The European Commission [official website] on Friday expressed its concern [Kyiv Post report] regarding a lack of transparency of Ukrainian hearings in prison, and declared that such a process does not correspond to the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) [official website]. In a statement sent to Interfax-Ukraine [Interfax news archive], the Commission called on Ukrainian authorities to ensure fair, impartial and transparent legal proceedings. Conversely, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) [official website] has defended the re-arrest of Tymoshenko by claiming that a hearing conducted in prison is not inconsistent with Ukrainian law. The SBU, however, did not remark on whether such procedure contradicts European Community law.

Tymoshenko was originally sentenced in October for abuse of office when, as prime minister, she signed a gas supply contract with Russia in 2009. Her prosecution has been closely followed and internationally controversial [JURIST comment], including harsh criticism from the West. In November, the Ukrainian Parliament voted against [agenda text] hearing amendments that may have freed [JURIST report] Tymoshenko by fining her rather than sentencing her for her criminal convictions. The EU has consistently condemned [JURIST report] the former prime minister's conviction as politically-motivated, and has indicated that the prosecution could harm Ukraine's bid for EU accession. Tymoshenko herself has also made efforts to demonstrate that the charges are motivated by her adversaries, but to no avail. In August, the Kiev Appeals Court refused an appeal [JURIST report] of her detention for contempt charges for a lack of legal grounds to contest the arrest [JURIST report]. Also, in June, Tymoshenko filed a complaint [JURIST report] with the ECHR alleging various violations of the European Convention of Human Rights [text, PDF] and arguing that her charges were politically engineered by current Ukrainian president and long-time political rival Viktor Yanukovych [official website]. Yanukovych narrowly defeated Tymoshenko in the presidential election in March 2010, but Tymoshenko has claimed that widespread voter fraud contributed to the outcome.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website] agreed [order list, PDF] Friday to rule on three Texas redistricting plans. The emergency appeal challenges an interim map drawn up by the US District Court for the Western District of Texas while a separate map drawn up by the state legislature is currently being challenged in the US District Court for the District of Columbia [official websites] for compliance with the Voting Rights Act [Cornell LII backgrounder]. Two of the cases are titled Perry, et al. v. Perez, et al. and will deal with the Texas state House and the US congressional delegation, respectively, and the third case, titled Perry, et al. v. Davis, et al., deals with the Texas state senate. The justices set one hour of argument for all three cases for January 9.

According to the 2010 census, Texas' population grew by 4.3 million, which gave it four more seats in the US House of Representatives. The Republican-controlled state legislature redrew the congressional districts in a way that challengers claim would make it more likely for Republicans to win those new seats. The plan must be approved by either the Justice Department or a federal court under the VRA, and the Obama administration has objected to the plan. In the meantime, the federal court in Texas drew an "interim map" for use in the 2012 election. That is the map that is currently being challenged before the Supreme Court.

[JURIST] The Croatian government signed a treaty [press release, PDF] Friday to finalize its accession into the European Union [official website]. Croatia will now officially become the twenty-eighth member of the EU in 2013. The signing ceremony consisted of speeches by leaders of the EU and Croatia, as well as signing of the treaty by the 27 other member countries. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said in a speech [text] delivered at the ceremony:

Croatia today is very different to the country that applied for accession a decade ago.It is ready to shoulder the substantial responsibilities of EU membership. It meets the Copenhagen political criteria, which were always a particular focus of the Commission's work. Ensuring that democratic principles, fundamental rights and the rule of law are respected and further strengthened was and is vital—for us but even more so for Croatia's own development and prosperity. This reform momentum now needs to be maintained.

Croatia will now serve as an active observer of the EU until its membership begins in 2013.

The EU gave final approval [JURIST report] to Croatian membership in June after six years of negotiations. The EU suspended accession talks [JURIST report] in 2005 when it felt Croatia was not cooperating fully with International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia [JURIST report] investigations into war crimes against its former military officers. Talks of accession were resumed later that year, when the ICTY determined Croatia was cooperating [JURIST report] with investigations.