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The procedure for pardoning Yulia Tymoshenko could start after her trial and if the ex-premier submits a respective application to the head of state, Viktor Yanukovych says. The procedure for pardoning former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko could start after her trial and if the ex-premier submits a respective application to the head of state, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has said.

"And what can happen then [after the trial]? Then she may be pardoned. And the pardon procedure is also envisaged in law. And I want to tell you that if there is such a procedure, and it starts with an application from the convicted person and an appeal to the president, the president has a commission that considers this pardon. And I'm confident that under the constitution, we have to consider this issue and make a decision. Then this question [about the possibility of pardoning Tymoshenko] will concern me," he said in interview with three Ukrainian TV channels.

On Oct. 11, 2011, Pechersky District Court in Kyiv sentenced Tymoshenko to seven years in prison for abuse of office in signing a gas deal with Russia in 2009. She is serving her sentence in the Kachanivska penal colony in Kharkiv.

A criminal case was opened against Tymoshenko regarding the activities of the United Energy Systems of Ukraine (UESU) Corporation, which she once led.

The investigation into certain episodes of this case has been completed, while the probe into the evasion of more than Hr 10 million in taxes and the attempted embezzlement of $405.5 million in state budget funds is continuing.