The biggest faction in the European parliament has demanded that jailed former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko be set free.
The one-time Orange Revolution leader was jailed for seven years for exceeding her powers in signing a gas deal with Russia in 2009.
The European People’s Party condemned the jailing saying it may have serious consequences for Ukraine’s associate EU membership bid.
“Yulia Tymoshenko must be acquitted, set free and fully enjoy her political and civil rights,” MP Jacek Saryusz-Wolski told reporters in Brussels.
“If the verdict is not overruled, it will have consequences on the implementation of [Ukraine’s] association agreement with the EU.”
The EU and the United States have described the trial as politically motivated, and Moscow said it had a “clear anti-Russian subtext.”
