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Ukrainian court upholds lawful verdict vs Timoshenko in gas case

The Kiev Court of Appeals upheld the lawfulness of the verdict, which the Pechorsky District Court of Kiev passed

Photo ITAR-TASS

Photo ITAR-TASS

KIEV, December 23 (Itar-Tass) —— The Kiev Court of Appeals upheld the lawfulness of the verdict, which the Pechorsky District Court of Kiev passed, under which the former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Timoshenko was sentenced to seven years in prison for the abuse of power in the signing of the gas agreements with Russia in January 2009. The court penal has made a relevant ruling on Friday.

The full text of the court ruling will be made public on December 29.

Neither Timoshenko nor her lawyers participated in a court session on Friday. On Friday, the former prime minister claimed that she stops to appeal the court verdicts against her in Ukraine. The former premier finds Ukrainian courts too biased and that “Ukraine lacks completely the legal system and justice at all.” Timoshenko’s lawyers already addressed in the European Court of Human Rights, where they will appeal against the Ukrainian court verdicts. According to their forecasts, a court verdict in the European Court of Human Rights should be expected in the first half of 2012.

On October 11, the Pechorsky District Court of Kiev sentenced Timoshenko to seven years in prison with the ban to take some public posts for another three years for the abuse of power in the signing of the gas agreements with Russia. The court also obliged Timoshenko to pay 1,516 billion hryvni (about 200 million dollars) to Naftogaz Ukrainy.

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