0
KIEV: A Ukrainian court Tuesday jailed former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko for seven years after convicting her of abuse of power, in a ruling that endangers Kiev's hopes of joining the European Union.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said that the verdict could prompt a reassessment of the bloc's ties with Ukraine, which had hoped this year to sign an Association Agreement in a key first step to membership.
But in apparent recognition of the potentially devastating consequences for the country, President Viktor Yanukovych insisted the decision was not final and that he understood the European Union's anxiety over the trial.
The trial “risks having profound implications for the EU-Ukraine bilateral relationship, including for the conclusion of the Association Agreement,” Ashton said in a statement.
Judge Rodion Kireyev earlier found Tymoshenko guilty of exceeding her authority while prime minister in 2009 by making the state energy company sign a 10-year gas import deal with Russia that was overly advantageous to Moscow.
“The court rules that Y.V. Tymoshenko intentionally used her powers to criminal ends,” Kireyev said in his judgement.
“The court finds her guilty and sentences her to seven years in prison.” Tymoshenko, her hair plaited intricately around her head and wearing an immaculate beige dress, defiantly shouted “Glory to Ukraine!” to her supporters in the court, who proclaimed “Glory to the Heroes!” in response.
“We will fight and defend my good name in the European court. We have to be strong and defend Ukraine from this authoritarianism,” she said.
Tymoshenko has portrayed the three-month trial as a historic fight to ensure Ukraine's future at the heart of Europe and a vendetta pursued by Yanukovych to eliminate her from politics after their tight tussle in 2010 presidential elections.
Ukrainian boxing star Vitali Klitschko, who has emerged as one of Tymoshenko's most vocal champions, described the verdict as an act of “political hara-kiri” which would harm Kiev's bid for closer EU ties.
Tymoshenko was later driven in a prison van back to the Lukyanovsky detention centre, where she has been held since her arrest on August 5 for contempt of court.
Since coming to power, Yanukovych had sought to confound critics who portrayed him as a pro-Kremlin relic from the USSR by setting EU integration as his main aim and snubbing an offer to join a customs union with Russia.
But Ashton warned that a full reassessment of the EU's ties with Kiev could be needed. “The EU is deeply disappointed with the verdict. The EU will reflect on its policies towards Ukraine,” she said.
EU officials have repeatedly expressed exasperation that Tymoshenko was being tried in a case where no corruption was implied which would not have been brought to court in a European state.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who oversaw the signing of the 2009 deal, said during a visit to Beijing that he did not “completely understand why she has been given these seven years,” according to the government website.
Putin said it was “dangerous and counterproductive to question this set of agreements” signed with Ukraine on Russian gas imports.
The Russian foreign ministry meanwhile complained that it saw a “clear anti-Russian subtext” to the case.
But Yanukovych said that the court of appeal still lay ahead and also appeared to allude to moves to decriminalise the statute in the criminal code under which Tymoshenko was condemned.
The former Orange Revolution leader was flanked by her husband Olexander and daughter Yevgenia, who comforted her clearly distressed mother as the verdict was given. Tymoshenko also stared gravely at her iPad.
The verdict was in line with the demand of prosecutors, who wanted a sentence of seven years. The judge also ruled that Tymoshenko would not be able to hold state posts for three years.
Kireyev said Tymoshenko sustained a loss to state gas firm Naftogaz of 1.5 billion hryvnia ($190 million) by agreeing the 10-year contract and ordered her to pay back the money in full herself.
Hundreds of Tymoshenko supporters gathered outside the court in central Kiev in a tense standoff with similar numbers of elite Berkut anti-riot police as the verdict was read out.
A dozen people, including her supporters and topless protesters from the FEMEN feminist group, were arrested, police said.
