Tymoshenko will take fight to Europe after losing appeal

The European Union condemned Ukrainian justice today after former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko lost her appeal against a corruption conviction.

Tymoshenko, 51, is serving a seven-year sentence for abuse of office in a case that she and her supporters claim is politically motivated.

After Ukraine’s highest court upheld the verdict today, her lawyers vowed to take her fight to the European Court of Human Rights.

Catherine Ashton, the EU’s foreign policy chief, called for the nation’s justice system to be reformed, and also criticised the jailing of another leading opposition figure, Yuri Lutsenko, this month.

Her spokesman Michael Mann said: “We stress the importance for the Ukrainian authorities to take concrete steps to address the systemic problems of the judiciary.

“We are deeply disappointed with the consequences of the current situation, as two important leaders of the opposition are prevented from standing for parliamentary elections.” Lutsenko, a political ally of Tymoshenko, was jailed for two years on August 17.

Judge Alexander Elfimov told the court today: “The judges of the court have reached the conclusion that the appeal cannot be satisfied.”

Tymoshenko, an architect of Ukraine’s 2004 Orange Revolution who twice served as prime minister, was jailed over allegations involving a gas contract with Russia while she was PM.

She says the case was politically motivated by President Viktor Yanukovych. In June, European leaders boycotted Euro 2012 football matches in Ukraine to show their disapproval of her continued detention.

Tymoshenko was not in court as she is in hospital in the city of Kharkiv, where she claims her medical needs have been neglected with back trouble.

Lutsenko, a former interior minister, was convicted of acting negligently in authorising surveillance. He is already serving a four-year term for embezzlement and the conviction was not expected to add to his time in prison.