Tymoshenko exit bill submitted to Ukraine parliament

A Ukrainian lawmaker with President Viktor Yanukovych's ruling party has submitted to parliament a bill which could allow jailed former premier Yulia Tymoshenko to go abroad for medical treatment, the parliament's register showed Friday. The release of Tymoshenko, who is serving a seven year sentence for abuse of power while in office, is seen as a key condition for Ukraine to sign an Association Agreement with the European Union at a summit in November. Mykola Rudkovskyi of the ruling Regions Party submitted the bill for amendments to Ukraine's criminal code on the legal regulation of allowing convicts to go abroad for treatment. It was not immediately clear when the Verkhovna Rada parliament would debate the bill. According to the draft, the bill says that a decision to treat convicts abroad, as well as the terms and conditions, should be taken by a court. The new rules would apply to all convicts, not just Tymoshenko. After the expiration of the period specified by the court for treatment abroad, the convict should return to Ukraine to continue serving the sentence, the bill says. In Tymoshenko's case, this would will leave her unable to take part in presidential polls in 2015. On Thursday, Yanukovych for the first time clearly signalled his willingness to free his main political rival. He said that currently Ukraine did not have a law to allow Tymoshenko to go abroad for medical treatment, adding that he would be ready to sign such a bill if the parliament adopted it. EU leaders have made clear that Ukraine will only be able to sign the broad political and free-trade Association Agreement -- the first step to eventual EU membership -- if Tymoshenko is released. Tymoshenko was sentenced in October 2011 to seven years in jail on abuse of power charges, which she has dismissed as an attempt by her rival to remove her from politics. Yanukovych is believed to be looking for ways to allow Tymoshenko to leave Ukraine without letting her stage a political comeback in the foreseeable future.