Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison for abuse of office in concluding gas supply contracts with Russia, said Tymoshenko's defense attorney and parliamentarian Serhiy Vlasenko.
"I am strongly convinced that they [the judges], despite the fact that there are no proofs in the case, will sentence her from 7 to 10 years in prison, without suspending the term," Vlasenko told journalists in Kyiv on Thursday.
As for the other two cases against Tymoshenko, one of them dealing with the Kyoto Protocol proceeds and the other with the procurement of ambulances, Vlasenko pointed out that, as the defense team on these cases changed and the lawyers are still examining the documents, they have not yet been passed to the courts.
Tymoshenko and her lawyers will insist on questioning current Prime Minister Mykola Azarov on the gas contract case, he said.
"There is Azarov’s testimony in the gas case. We will insist on summoning Azarov as a witness," Vlasenko said.
It was reported earlier that the Prosecutor General’s Office charged Tymoshenko with abuse of office in concluding gas supply contracts with Russia in 2009, so inflicting damages on the state exceeding UAH 1.5 billion, which carries from 7 to 10 years of imprisonment.
