Question for written answer E-008342/2013/rev.1 to the Commission (Vice-President / High Representative) Rule 117 Krzysztof Lisek (PPE) and Paweł Zalewski (PPE)

Subject: VP/HR - Potential opposition candidate in the upcoming Georgian presidential elections Vano Merabishvili not yet considered a political prisoner

The Commission needs to be commended for the swift and strong position it took towards the arrest of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. She was considered a political prisoner and her detention named what it was in reality: a politically motivated manifestation of selective justice. This has had a detrimental influence on political relations between the European Union and Ukraine. The strong EU position gives the EU leverage over Ukraine in the run-up to the Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius in November this year, where the Association Agreement (including the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area) with Ukraine is due to be signed. That is however conditional on the necessary political circumstances pertaining, among which the release from prison of the former Prime Minister is crucial.

Unfortunately we are also witnessing a similar situation unfolding in nearby , where the government of the coalition is deploying similar political intimidation tactics, using the justice system as a tool against the opposition.

Why is the former prime minister of Georgia and potential opposition candidate in the upcoming presidential elections, Vano Merabishvili, who is in pre-trail detention, not yet considered a political prisoner? Why is his detention, and that of many other members of the United National Movement, not yet considered to be politically motivated selective justice?

943476.EN PE 516.518