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| Berlusconi's banner in Kharkiv, Ukraine |
They
started it, not us, would reply Mr Hennadiy Keres, Mayor of the
second largest city in Ukraine, Kharkiv, if asked why he decided to
put up a giant banner with a bilingual writing, citing “Hands
off Berlusconi. Because of him Italy has lost millions.
Municipality of Rome, support not only Ukraine's Prime Minister but
also yours!”
And
– in a way – he is right, since Rome's Mayor, Gianni Alemanno (of
Berlusconi's PdL), stuck up a (quite smaller) picture of former
Ukrainian PM Yulia Tymoshenko outside his office on Rome's Capitol
Hill a couple of days before, with the following writing on it:
“Free Yulia Tymoshenko”
One
of the small difference between the two causes, is that the
76-year-old former Italian Prime Minister is far from being jailed,
actually he is threatening to start a new party, in sight of
parliamentary elections in 2013. Berlusconi was given a four-year sentence for tax fraud, but he is still free pending appeals and he's not likely to ever get
into jail, due to his age.
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| Yulia Tymoshenko's banner in Rome, Italy |
The first woman to become Ukraine's prime minister, 52-year-old
Tymoshenko (her birthday was on the 27th of November) was
actually prisoned back in December 2011 in the city of Kharkiv (she is now receiving treatment at a hospital) where she is expected to
serve a seven-year term for abuse of office in relation to a
natural-gas deal with Russia.
Berlusconi
and his supporters say the charges are politically motivated,
just like Tymoshenko and her supporters say. Both – according to
the Mayor of Kharkiv – cost money to their countries.
The European
Union and the United States have decried Tymoshenko imprisonment as
selective justice, they do not seem much impressed by Berlusconi's
claims that Italy is a magistocracy, rather than a democracy
(and therefore he will go on fighting, instead of retiring).
Silvio
like Yulia?
