A petition calling for any constitutional measures to release former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, which was opened on the White House Web site on December 20, 2013, has already collected 109,000 signatures.

The petition, called "Use all legitimate constitutional means to free Yulia Tymoshenko now. She is political prisoner of the Ukrainian regime." It was necessary to collect at least 100,000 signatures by January 19 to ensure its submission for consideration by the U.S. administration. The number of signatures is continuing to grow.

"Yulia Tymoshenko has been imprisoned by the Ukrainian regime for two-and-a-half years now, and her arrest was declared illegal by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, this year. Her politically motivated incarceration shocked the democratic world. European leaders and the U.S. government, the Canadian government and the other leaders of the democratic world have voiced their great concern and demanded that President [Viktor] Yanukovych free her, as her trial was politically motivated. They boycotted the Euro 2012 football championship, put on hold the Association Agreement and halted further negotiations with the regime until this unacceptable human rights violation is corrected and Tymoshenko is freed to receive back surgery that she desperately needs... The Maidan is standing in Kyiv and hundreds of thousands of people want her free," reads the petition.

According to the Web site, if a petition gathers more than 100,000 signatures within 30 days, White House its staff will send it to the relevant department and then notify the authors and all citizens who signed the petition of the decision by email.