Rome – Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini has expressed his disappointment by the conviction of former Ukrainian Premier Yulia Tymoshenko.
"Seven years in prison is an unacceptable sentence," he told Italian reporters.
The minister noted that it would difficult for Italy to develop relations with Ukraine due to this situation.
"We could hold technical talks on some issues. But it will be difficult to work on the rapprochement of Italy and Ukraine in the political sphere until Kyiv completely revises this problem [the situation with Tymoshenko] related to the observance of the fundamental human rights and norms of a constitutional state," he said.
It was reported earlier that the Pechersky District Court in Kyiv found Ukraine’s ex-prime minister and leader of the Batkivschyna party Yulia Tymoshenko guilty of exceeding her authority while signing gas contracts with Russia and sentenced her to seven years in prison.
