The appeal against the decision of Pechersky District Court in Kyiv on the gas supply case against former Ukrainian Premier Yulia Tymoshenko will convince the board of judges of the injustice of the court's sentence, according to the former premier's lawyer, Mykola Siry.
"The first position says that the actions of the premier were political and she can’t be held to [judicial] account for these actions," he said in an interview with Svoboda radio.
"The second position is that the article of the Criminal Code, which stipulates the liability for abuse of power, was wrongly used. There was no criminal intention in Tymoshenko’s actions, there was no abuse of office," the lawyer said.
Moreover, during the investigation of the gas supply case and during the court’s trial many violations of the Criminal Procedural Code and constitution of Ukraine were made, Siry said.
As reported, on October 24, Yulia Tymoshenko appealed against the court’s sentence on the gas supply case via the administration of the pre-trial detention center, where she is detained. Next day her lawyers submitted the appeal to Pechersky District Court.
Asked why Tymoshenko and her lawyers submitted two appeals, lawyer Serhiy Vlasenko said: "Every participant of the process has the right of appeal as independent procedural figure."
"This is a control [copy of the appeal]," he said.
On October 11, Pechersky District Court in Kyiv found Tymoshenko guilty on the gas supply case. In particular, the court found that the former premier abused power during the preparation of instructions for gas negotiations with Russia in 2009.
Tymoshenko was imprisoned for seven years. This term starts from August 5, 2011, when the premier was arrested in the court hall. What is more, Tymoshenko is banned from holding a state post for three years.
The court also satisfied a suit of NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine concerning Yulia Tymoshenko, according to which she is to compensate the company for damages of a total of over Hr 1.5 billion.
