KIEV, Dec 23: A Ukraine appeals court on Friday upheld the guilty verdict and seven-year jail sentence awarded to former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko over abuse-of-office charges in a case that has soured Ukraine's ties with the West.

The ruling suggests Ms Tymoshenko, an opposition leader whose party is one of the key contenders in the October 2012 parliamentary election, is unlikely to go free in the near future.

'The court has left the (original) ruling unchanged, a spokeswoman for the appeals court said.

Ms Tymoshenko, the fiercest opponent of President Viktor Yanukovich, was sentenced in October for overstepping her powers in forcing through a gas deal with Russia in 2009.

The European Union this week put off signing agreements on political association and free trade with Ukraine, citing Ms Tymoshenko's case as an example of selective justice.

Ms Tymoshenko, who has denied any wrongdoing, had boycotted the appeal trial calling it biased. She has filed a case with the European Court of Human Rights which plans to fast-track it.

Ms Tymoshenko, 51, twice served as prime minister af ter leading the 2004 'Orange Revolution' which ruined Mr Yanukovich's first bid for the presidency.-Reuters