Former PM of Ukraine gets 7 years in jail

KIEV, Ukraine - A Ukrainian court on Tuesday sentenced former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko to seven years in prison for abuse of office in relation to a 2009 gas deal with Russia that she brokered, a case regarded widely in the West as politically orchestrated.

Judge Rodion Kireyev handed down the sentence - the maximum sought by state prosecutors - at the end of a three-month trial that has polarized society in the ex-Soviet republic and risks undermining Ukraine's relations with the West.

"The court has ... found Tymoshenko guilty ... and sentenced her to a prison term of seven years," he said. Her lawyers said they would appeal against the verdict.