The leaders of the three opposition factions in the Verkhovna Rada have appealed to the political groups of the European Parliament via a statement against political repression, a defense counsel for former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, Andriy Kozhemiakin, has said.

"We, the three opposition parties, state that the regime of [Ukrainian President Viktor] Yanukovych continues political repression in Ukraine and has no intention of stopping it," reads the statement, which was read out by Kozhemiakin to reporters in Kharkiv on Tuesday.

The statement notes that contrary to hopes, political repression in Ukraine is not ending.

"Kharkiv has become a symbol of political repression in Ukraine for the whole world, because the Yanukovych regime has chosen it as the place where Yulia Tymoshenko is illegally held. It has recently seemed to all of us that political repression, under the pressure of the international democratic community, started winding down. Unfortunately, it was only an illusion. A recent statement by Yanukovych about the impossibility of making a decision on Yulia Tymoshenko in Kharkiv and considering in Kharkiv an absurd case of allegedly illegal VAT refunds, which was trumped up against her 16 years ago and has already been closed by the Supreme Court of Ukraine, is a sign of continuing political repression in Ukraine," reads the statement.

The authors of the statement also demanded that Yanukovych fully exonerate and release Tymoshenko and restore her rights.