You're reading: Vlasenko: Gas case against Tymoshenko put to rest

The defense team of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has received the full text of a ruling of the Supreme Court of Ukraine, which declared her innocent of all charges in the gas contract case.

“Today, we have received the full text of the Supreme Court’s verdict
in the ‘gas case.’ The Supreme Court sitting en banc, with reference to
the European Court of Human Rights’ ruling acknowledged what has been
recognized by the European community for three years now… that Yulia
Tymoshenko committed no crime in 2009,” the ex-premier’s defense
counsel, Serhiy Vlasenko, told reporters in Kyiv on June 24.

“The Cabinet of Ministers is not empowered to approve any guidelines
for business entities. Therefore, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s
giving directions to the delegation of Naftogaz Ukrainy for the talks,
which involved drafting contracts on purchase and sale of natural gas,
cannot be regarded as an abuse of power,” the defense lawyer quoted the
court ruling.

According to Vlasenko, the Supreme Court came to a conclusion that there was no crime in her actions.

“Finally, Yulia Tymoshenko’s gas case has been put to rest,” the defense counsel said.

On April 14, Ukraine’s Supreme Court closed the “gas case” against Tymoshenko in the absence of the actual criminal event.

“All of the Supreme Court’s chambers met today, and 42 of the 48
judges drew a line under the falsified gas case. The Supreme Court ruled
that there are no criminal events in Yulia Tymoshenko’s actions,”
Vlasenko said then.

In addition, criminal inquiries were launched against the prosecutors
who supported the criminal charges against Tymoshenko and the judge who
passed the verdict, he said.

Tymoshenko was arrested during her trial on August 5, 2011. Kyiv’s
Pechersky District Court found her guilty of abuse of office while
negotiating a gas supply contract with Russia in 2009, and sentenced her
to 7 years in prison on Oct. 11, 2011. The court also banned
Tymoshenko from occupying government positions for three years and
obliged her to pay UAH 1.5 billion to the state in compensation for her
wrongdoings.

The Ukrainian parliament freed Tymoshenko on Feb. 22 2014.

Tymoshenko was also a suspect in the criminal case connected with
corruption schemes during her tenure as head of the Unified Energy
Systems of Ukraine.

This case was closed in late February after the prosecutor dropped all charges against Tymoshenko.