RIA Novosti, Russia
Jan 25 2005
SPEECH BY NEWLY ELECTED UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT, NAGORNO-KARABAKH, ‘YUKOS
CASE’ ON PACE’S WINTER SESSION’S AGENDA
STRASBOURG, January 25 (RIA Novosti) – Ukrainian President Victor
Yushchenko is to address the winter session of the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg on Tuesday.
As was stressed in the lobby of the Palace of Europe in Strasbourg,
the new head of the Ukrainian state, who assumed office just last
Sunday and paid his first foreign lightning visit to the Russian
capital, is expected to send a clear and unambiguous signal of
Ukraine’s European aspirations and outline the process of the
nation’s further advance along the path of democratic reform.
In addition to Yushchenko’s address, high on the agenda is discussion
of the report on the handling of the Nagorno-Karabakh situation and
OSCE’s Minsk Group role in it. Nagorno-Karabakh is the Armenian
enclave in Azerbaijan. In the early 1990s, it renounced Azerbaijan’s
jurisdiction.
The draft resolution on the issue denounces the attempts at using
force and highlights the necessity of solely peaceful approaches to
settling the conflict as well as suggests a provisional PACE
commission on Nagorno- Karabakh be set up.
Another high-profile item on the agenda is discussion of the report
on the circumstances in which leaders of Russian oil producer YUKOS
were arrested and subjected to legal proceedings.
Authored by German parliamentarian Sabina Leuthauser-Schnarrenberger
on behalf of the commission on legal affairs and human rights, the
report expresses suspicions of grave violations during the
prejudicial inquiry and questions the impartiality and unbiasedness
of the authorities.
The draft resolution proposes, in particular, that PACE should demand
from the Russian authorities full independence of legal proceedings
against the YUKOS leaders from any attempts at influencing them and
the public’s access to the court hearings.
Konstantin Kosachyov, head of the Russian delegation, told RIA
Novosti that the Russian side regards the repot on YUKOS as biased.
“This is another attempt by a number of European parliamentarians at
pushing the subject into the limelight,” Mr. Kosachyov emphasized.
He also said that the Russian delegation had prepared an individual
opinion as for the report.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress