KIEV, April 14. /ITAR-TASS/. The Supreme Court of Ukraine has closed the “gas case” of former prime minister and Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) party leader Yulia Tymoshenko, her lawyer Serhiy Vlasenko said at a briefing on Monday.

The case was closed by 42 of 48 Supreme Court judges “due to the absence of the criminal event”. “We think this puts an end to the falsified ‘gas case’ saga,” the lawyer said.

He believes that Kiev’s Pechersky District Court Judge Rodion Kireyev who “made a knowingly unlawful decision” to sentence Tymoshenko should face penalties.

October 11, 2011, Tymoshenko was sentenced to seven years in prison for having acted in excess of her powers, which had resulted in damage to national interests.

Timoshenko was also barred from holding public positions for three years and has to pay a penalty of $189 million in losses to Naftogaz.

She was also charged with financial abuses in the Unified Energy Systems of Ukraine.

The Prosecutor General’s Office then filed a lawsuit demanding compensation from Tymoshenko in the amount of 19.5 million hryvnia in this case.

In late December 2011, Tymoshenko was transferred from the investigation prison to a correctional facility in the eastern Kharkiv region. She fell ill on August 18, 2011, two weeks after her arrest. Tymoshenko insisted that she be examined and treated by independent medics. On May 9, 2012, she was admitted to the Kharkiv Railway Hospital for medical treatment.

The opposition demanded that Tymoshenko be set free and allowed to go abroad for medical treatment.

Tymoshenko was released from prison on February 22 by a resolution adopted by the parliament.

She is running for president in the elections to be held on May 25.