11/10/2011 18:24
Yulia Tymoshenko sentenced to seven years in jail
Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on Tuesday was found guilty of abuse of office and sentenced to seven years in jail, in a trial widely condemned in the West as politically motivated.
Judge Rodion Kireyev also barred Tymoshenko, now the country's top opposition leader, from occupying government posts for three years after the completion of her prison term and fined her 1.5 billion hryvna ($190 million; euro140 million) in damages to the state.
Tymoshenko was found guilty of exceeding her authority during the signing of a natural gas import contract with Russia in 2009. The court ruled that she was not authorized to order the contract signed and that the price she agreed to was too high, causing losses to the state budget.