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Ukraine's Tymoshenko appeals conviction

27 October 2011, 20:43 CET
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Ukraine's Tymoshenko appeals conviction

Yulia Tymoshenko - Photo EC

(KIEV) - Ukraine's former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko on Monday lodged an appeal against her conviction and seven-year jail sentence for abusing her powers in a 2009 gas deal signed with Russia, her lawyer said.

Tymoshenko personally made the appeal through the management of the Lukyankovsky detention centre in Kiev where she is being held, her lawyer Sergiy Vlasenko said according to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.

"Yulia Vladimirovna handed in her appeal today," he said, adding that Tuesday was the deadline for the appeal after the verdict on October 11.

The verdict issued earlier this month was condemned by the European Union and risks endangering Ukraine's hopes of European integration. A planned visit by Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych to Brussels has also been put off.

Tymoshenko has insisted that the verdict was ordered by her arch foe Yanukovych who defeated her and other figureheads of the 2004 Orange Revolution in 2010 presidential elections.

She was convicted of exceeding her powers by ordering the signing of an accord for gas imports to Russia that the court said resulted in losses of 1.5 billion hryvina ($189 million) for state energy firm Naftogaz.

As well as the prison term, she has also been ordered to pay back the financial losses in full.

Adding to her woes, the Ukrainian authorities have launched a potentially even more grave probe against her over suspected embezzlement when she headed utility firm United Energy Systems of Ukraine in the 1990s.


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