KIEV, Russia, Feb. 11 (UPI) -- Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko does not see herself as a criminal and will not ask the president for a pardon, her lawyer says.
Sergei Vlasenko said his client can appeal within the Ukrainian criminal justice system and also has the option of appealing ot the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, RIA Novosti reported. Tymoshenko was sentenced to seven years in prison last year for signing a 2009 agreement to buy gas from Russia that forced Ukraine to buy more than it needs at high prices.
Tymoshenko's supporters and Western critics say the trial was a political one arranged by President Viktor Yanukovych.
"She will not address to Yanukovych. She did not commit a crime," Vlasenko told the Ukrainian weekly Zerkalo Nedeli. "Some people suppose that Yanukovych will pardon Tymoshenko without her appeal. Will she accept it or not that is another question."
