By Pearl Rimon
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

KIEV, Ukraine – Former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko started her appeals hearing on Thursday against her convictions on abuse of power charges.

Tymoshenko’s five lawyers argued that she should be released because no crime had been committed. A representative of the state energy company, Naftogaz, and the prosecutor call for the appeal to be rejected. The final ruling is expected to be give on Tuesday after the opinion of the second prosecutor is heard.

“There is no proof of Tymoshenko’s guilt,” her lawyer Sergiy Vlasenko told journalists after the hearing.

Olexander Plakhotniuk, another of Tymoshenko’s lawyers, told the court: “”I consider that the sentence of the court (last October) is unlawful. The court incorrectly applied criminal law and this is the basis for overturning the sentence.”

Tymoshenko has been imprisoned since August 2011. In October of that year, she was sentenced to seven years on accusations she abused her power as prime minister by signing a gas contract with Russia, that Ukraine had decided was against its interests at the time.

If the court does not release Tymoshenko, she is able to bring her case in front of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), to be able to do this she must have exhausted all the legal options in Ukraine. Tymoshenko already has an appeal in process to the ECHR regarding another arrest that is scheduled for August 28.

The European Union sees the Tymoshenko case as a political trial and has caused a rift between Ukraine and the West. The EU sees Tymoshenko as a victim of selective justice by President Viktor Yanukovych, her political rival . Tymoshenko was the leader of the 2004 Orange Revolution which derailed President Yanukovych’s first bid for the presidency. In February 2010, the two had a run-off for the presidency.

Tymoshenko is currently being treated for a back condition in a state hospital and was unable to attend the first day of trial.

Parliamentary supporters of Tymoshenko attempted to nail a reproduction of a Renaissance painting depicting a corrupt judge being flayed alive. Judge Stanlislav Myshchenko warned supports that further disturbances would result in being expelled.

For further information, please see:

CNBC — Tymoshenko Appeals Against Conviction in Ukraine Court – 16 August 2012

France 24 — Ukraine Starts Hearing Tymoshenko Appeal — 16 August 2012

Gulf Times — Tymoshenko Appeals Against Conviction – 16 August 2012