Former Ukraine Premier loses court appeal

Ukraine’s highest court has upheld the guilty verdict against the country’s ex-prime minister who is in jail on abuse of office charges.

Yulia Tymoshenko was an architect of Ukraine’s 2004 Orange Revolution. She was sentenced to seven years in prison last October over allegations involving a gas contract negotiated while she was prime minister.

Judge Alexander Elfimov said today as he was reading the ruling that the court “found no grounds to uphold (Tymoshenko’s) appeal” against the verdict.

The former prime minister’s supporters say the trial was initiated by her opponent President Viktor Yanukovich, who denies the accusations.

Lawyers for Tymoshenko are appealing against her conviction in the European Court for Human Rights.