A Ukrainian court has found former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko guilty of abuse of office and jailed her for seven years.
She was convicted yesterday of violating legal procedures during the 2009 signing of a natural gas import contract with Russia which the prosecution said inflicted damages of 1.5 billion hryvna ($243 million) on the national gas company.
The US and the European Union have condemned the case as politically motivated, and Tymoshenko said it was a government attempt to bar her from upcoming elections and persecution by her arch-foe, President Viltor Yanukovych.