Ukraine’s high court on Wednesday rejected jailed ex-premier Yulia Tymoshenko’s appeal of her abuse of power conviction despite threats of being cut off from Western powers that view the case as political.
About 100 supporters of the 2004 Orange Revolution leader rallied in the 51-year-old’s defence as Ukraine’s highest appeals authority agreed that she had no authority to seal a controversial gas deal with Russia in 2009.
“The judicial panel found no grounds for the appeal,” judge Olexander Elfimov said to cries of “Shame!” from Tymoshenko’s supporters.
The same panel also left in place Tymoshenko’s seven-year jail sentence and $190 million fine while finding no grounds to her claim that she had been made the victim of political persecution.
“Pre-trial investigators and the court did not commit violations that could result in a change of the sentence,” the judge read at a hearing attended by former Polish president Aleksander Kwasniewski and several EU dignitaries.
European Union immediately voiced its “deep disappointment” and noted that outcome followed a trial that “did not respect international standards.”
The rejection marks the end of Tymoshenko’s domestic legal recourse and clears the way for her to take her full case to the European Court of Human Rights — a move the defence had been kept from making by months of judicial delays.
“We will complete our additional appeal and file it (with the Strasbourg court) by the end of the week,” Tymoshenko’s lawyer Sergiy Vlasenko told reporters outside the courtroom.
“We will not give up our fight,” added Tymoshenko’s high-profile daughter and new legal assistant Yevgenia.
“We will seek justice because this is not something you can find in Ukrainian courts,” she stressed.
The Strasbourg court opened hearings on Tuesday into whether Tymoshenko’s pre-trial detention was politically motivated and whether her prison conditions had violated her basic rights.
