Merkel: No EU summit boycott threat

BRUSSELS, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel's office denied a report she will boycott a European Union summit if an ex-Ukrainian prime minister is sentenced to prison.

The EUobserver reported an unnamed diplomat had said Merkel threatened not to attend if Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is sentenced to prison before next week's summit.

Tymoshenko has been jailed since early August and reportedly has been in poor health. She is charged with corruption in connection with a 2009 gas deal brokered with Russian gas company Gazprom.

Tymoshenko lost a 2010 election battle for president against President Viktor Yanukovych, and her defense team claims the charges against her are politically motivated.

At the summit in Warsaw, a draft summit declaration says, the EU is to acknowledge the "European aspirations and the European choice" and the "commitment to build deep and sustainable democracy" of six former Soviet countries -- Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia and Moldova.

EU countries approved the draft declaration Tuesday, and the six countries are expected to do so before the summit begins next Thursday.

But the realities in some of the countries belie the stated commitment, the EUobserver says.

The draft resolution calls for the "the immediate release and rehabilitation of all political prisoners" in Belarus and expresses "deep concern" about repression.

The publication noted Ukraine jails political opponents, Armenia jails protesters and tortures prisoners and Azerbaijan has dozens of political prisoners.