The Hill News

A bipartisan group of House lawmakers is lobbying the Ukrainian government this week for the immediate release of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

Tymoshenko was sentenced last month by a Ukrainian court to seven years in prison over charges that she brokered an illegal gas deal with Moscow in 2009.

In a letter to Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich, the lawmakers â€" behind Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) â€" said both the charges and the verdict were trumped up by Tymoshenko's political enemies. The gas deal, they argued, was negotiated "in her official capacity as prime minister at that time."

"We strongly object to this politically motivated decision that undermines the rule of law and international standards for a transparent judicial process," the lawmakers wrote. "We respectfully urge you to immediately release former Prime Minister Tymoshenko, and to reinstate her full citizenship rights and the right to run for public office." 

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