Bulgarian president to skip Yalta summit
(SOFIA) - Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev will not attend a Yalta summit of central European states in mid-May, his office said Friday, citing concerns over the state of human rights in Ukraine.
"He will not attend," Plevneliev's press officer Maria Ivanova told AFP.
"The decision was already taken some time ago and one of the reasons is the state of human rights in this country," she said, without going into any more details.
The presidents of Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Italy and Slovenia have already said they will skip the Yalta summit, as protests grow louder over Ukraine's treatment of jailed ex-premier Yulia Tymoshenko.
The European Commission and Austria also said they would boycott the Euro 2012 football championship in Ukraine to protest Tymoshenko's treatment, a move that reportedly could be matched by Germany.
Tymoshenko, the 2004 Orange Revolution leader, was jailed last October for abuse of power and has gone on a hunger strike to protest her alleged beating by prison wardens.
Text and Picture Copyright 2012 AFP. All other Copyright 2012 EUbusiness Ltd. All rights reserved. This material is intended solely for personal use. Any other reproduction, publication or redistribution of this material without the written agreement of the copyright owner is strictly forbidden and any breach of copyright will be considered actionable.
