In April 2011 the General Prosecutor’s Office initiated criminal case against the former Prime-Minister of Ukraine on the grounds of exceeding the powers which caused the severe consequences (paragraph 3 of Article 365 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) whilst entering into the gas deal with Russian Federation in January 2009. In August 2011 Yulia Tymoshenko was arrested in the course of the court hearing of the case. In October 2011 she was found guilty and sentenced to seven years of imprisonment. In addition, the Pecherskyy District Court of Kyiv ordered Yulia Tymoshenko to pay approximately UAH 1,5 billion to NJSC “Nafrogas Ukraina” in damages. On December 23, 2011 Kyiv Appellate Court confirmed the verdict of the court of first instance.

The decision of the court of the second instance can be appealed. The respective application to the European Court of Human Rights has been already submitted.