Tymoshenko's daughter takes up mantle

• Tweet

LONDON, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- The daughter of a jailed Ukrainian opposition leader said the courts in Ukraine are working to ensure the international community forgets about the case.

Opposition leader and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is serving a seven-year prison term after being convicted on charges she abused her authority in a 2009 natural gas deal with Russia's Gazprom.

Tymoshenko's attorneys said they'd take the case to European courts. The European Union has said trials for opposition leaders in Ukraine haven't met international standards for "fair, transparent and independent legal processes."

Tymoshenko lost a bitter campaign for the presidency to Viktor Yanukovych in 2010. Her supporters suspect the charges against her are politically motivated.

Eugenia Tymoshenko, Yulia Tymoshenko's daughter, told The Guardian newspaper in London she expected her month to return to public life this year.

"I think she will be with us this year," she said. "The government wants the world to forget her. I'm not going to let that happen."

Ukraine has parliamentary elections Oct. 28. It's unlikely Tymoshenko would be freed by then.