Ukraine rejects appeal against Tymoshenko jailing

A Ukrainian court on Friday rejected an appeal by former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko against her seven-year jail term on charges of abuse of power that sparked a crisis in relations with the EU. "The sentence ... is to be left unchanged," Kiev appeals court judge Olena Sitailo said in her ruling, an AFP correspondent reported, after a process that was already boycotted by Tymoshenko's legal team. Prosecutor Lilya Frolova said she was satisfied with the verdict by the appeals court and said that the defence had the right to appeal the ruling at the high court within the next three months. Neither Tymoshenko nor her lawyers were present in the Kiev appeals court as the ruling was read out. From her jail cell, Tymoshenko slammed the "shameful decision" in a statement released by her media service. "Each Ukrainian risks being deprived of freedom and rights, and Ukraine risks losing its independence," she said. "It matters little if I'm in prison or elsewhere. ... I will never end my fight" for change. Tymoshenko had said Thursday that she and her defence lawyers would boycott the entire appeals process, which she said had degenerated into a "shameful" travesty of justice. "Seeking truth and justice in the Ukrainian courts is completely futile," she said in a statement. Frolova said it was Tymoshenko's right to go to the high court and she would have to go through all judicial instances if she is to take her case to the European Court of Human Rights. But the opposition leader has repeatedly made clear that she believes she has no chance of obtaining justice in Ukraine, accusing her rival President Viktor Yanukovych of ordering the persecution of herself and her allies. The leader of the 2004 Orange Revolution was sentenced in October for abuse of power while prime minister in a case that was launched just months after she lost a close election to Yanukovych. Her trial and imprisonment have severely strained the former Soviet state's relations with the European Union and more recently prompted Kiev to explore closer economic ties with Moscow. The EU warned Yanukovych on Monday that the signing of an agreement taking Kiev a step closer to membership of the bloc depended on Tymoshenko's release. There has also been growing concern about Tymoshenko's health, with her relatives saying she is confined to her bed with back pains that make it impossible for her to walk. Tymoshenko's conviction was followed almost immediately by the launch of a series of new criminal cases against her that could keep her in prison even should the authorities overturn her original sentencing. Those cases are linked to financial crimes she allegedly committed while head of Ukraine's state power company in the 1990s.