Tymoshenko appeals guilty verdict

Defense lawyers for Ukraine’s former Prime Minister Tymoshenko on Monday appealed her seven-year prison sentence, her lawyer said. “Today Yulia Tymoshenko has lodged her appeal,” Serhiy Vlasenko said. Tymoshenko was sentenced to seven years in prison in mid-October on abuse of office charges in connection with the signing of a gas contract with Russia in 2009. Tymoshenko’s verdict has sparked widespread international condemnation, described by Western powers and Russia as “politically motivated.” The current Ukrainian authorities say the gas contract with Russia she pushed through in 2009 has caused multi-billon-dollar damage to the country’s economy.