You're reading: Ally of Ukraine’s Tymoshenko jailed for 5 years

A Ukrainian court on April 12 handed down a five-year prison term to an ally of opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko, who was herself jailed last year in a case that soured Ukraine's ties with the West.

Tymoshenko has described her conviction for abuse of office as part of a campaign by her bitter foe President Viktor Yanukovich to destroy opposition. The European Union saw it as an example of selective justice and has urged her release.

On April 12, a district court in Kyiv found Valery Ivashchenko, who served as acting defence minister in Tymoshenko’s cabinet in 2009 and 2010, guilty of abusing his powers in privatising a Black Sea ship repair facility.

Ivashchenko dismissed the charges as politically motivated, according to the Interfax news agency.

"I have all reasons to consider the verdict unfair," it quoted him as telling the court.

A lawyer for Ivashchenko, Borys Nechiporenko, said an appeal would be lodged within 15 days and denounced a verdict which he said smacked of political revenge.

"The case was clearly ordered up. It was simply decided to settle scores with him in this way," he said.

Ivashchenko’s wife Valeriya told journalists after the hearing her husband had been the victim of a plot involving his subordinates.

ORANGE REVOLUTION

Tymoshenko was one of the leaders of the 2004 Orange Revolution which doomed Yanukovich’s first bid for the presidency, and went on to serve twice as prime minister.

She lost the 2010 presidential election to Yanukovich and after his rise to power Tymoshenko and a number of her allies in opposition faced corruption-related charges in what she has described as a campaign of repression.

One of her former interior ministers, Yuri Lutsenko, was sentenced in February to four years for embezzlement and abuse office.

Tymoshenko’s husband Olexander and another ally, former Economy Minister Bohdan Danylyshin, have both fled to the Czech Republic where they have been granted asylum. Other Tymoshenko supporters inside Ukraine remain vocal.

The EU has put off signing an association agreement and a free trade deal with Ukraine over the issue, urging Kiev to free Tymoshenko and allow her to compete in a parliamentary election in October.