FILE - Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko during a trial hearing at the Pecherskiy District Court in Kiev, Ukraine, in this file photo dated Wednesday, June 29, 2011. Europe's human rights court in Strasbourg, France, ruled Tuesday April 30, 2013, that Ukraine's jailing of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was a politically motivated violation of her rights, but it is unclear if the European court ruling would be legally binding in Ukraine. (AP Photo/Sergei Chuzavkov, File)
April 30, 2013 - 2:20 AM
STRASBOURG, France - Europe's human rights court says Ukraine's jailing of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was a politically motivated violation of her rights.
A Ukrainian government official stormed out of the courtroom after Tuesday's ruling in a case that has strained the former Soviet state's ties with Europe and the United States.
Tymoshenko, an architect of Ukraine's 2004 pro-democracy Orange Revolution, was sentenced to seven years in prison in October 2011 after being convicted of exceeding her powers as premier while negotiating a gas contract with Russia.
Tymoshenko says her jailing was intended to keep her out of politics and that her rights were violated. The court found unanimously that her detention in August 2011 was arbitrary.
It's unclear if a decision by the European court would be legally binding in Ukraine.
News from © The Associated Press, 2013