Criminal cases against Yulia Tymoshenko since 2010

Since May 2010,^[4][5] a series of criminal cases have been opened against Ukrainian politician and former Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko. After Tymoshenko was released from prison on February 22, 2014, in the concluding days of the Euromaidan revolution, following a revision of the Criminal Code of Ukraine that effectively decriminalized the actions for which she was imprisoned, she was cleared of all charges.^[6][7] She was officially rehabilitated on February 28, 2014.^[8][7][9] Just after the Euromaidan revolution, the Ukrainian Supreme Court closed the case and found that "no crime was committed".^[10]

By November 2011 Tymoshenko was under criminal investigation for ten criminal acts;^[11] Ukrainian prosecutors have claimed she has committed more criminal acts.^[12][13] The cases are:

• intent to bribe Supreme Court judges in 2003,^[4][5]
• misuse of public finances in 2009 — criminal cases involving "ambulances for rural medicine" and "Kyoto money" (funds that Ukraine received for selling their quotas under the Kyoto Protocol),^[14]
• abuse of office over a natural gas imports contract signed with Russia in January 2009,^[14]
• criminal case on "United Energy Systems of Ukraine" (UESU) (1996-1997) is constantly reopened (in 2001, 2011) and closed (in 2001, 2003, 2005). Was reopened in Ukraine on 24 October 2011 (non-delivery by UESU of goods to Russia for $405.5 million in 1996–1997, 4 cases of tax evasion by UESU in 1996–1997),^{[15][16][17][18]}
• involvement in the 1996 murder of oligarch Yevhen Shcherban in Donetsk.^[19][20]

In addition Tymoshenko's lawyer Serhiy Vlasenko stood accused of car theft, robbery and failing to obey a court ruling stemming from his divorce.^[21]

On 11 October 2011, a Ukrainian court sentenced Tymoshenko to seven years in prison after she was found guilty of abusing her office when brokering the 2009 gas deal with Russia.^[22] From 5 August 2011 until her release, Tymoshenko was held in custody. At first she was held in Kyiv,^[23][24] before being imprisoned in Kharkiv on December 30, 2011.^[25] From May 2012 until the date of her release, she was hospitalized and received treatment for a spinal disc herniation.^[26][27] Tymoshenko went on three hunger strikes during her imprisonment.^{[28][29][30][31][32][33]}

Representatives of several countries and human rights organizations have rated the trials against Tymoshenko as "selective justice" and "political persecution".^{[22][23][34][35][36][37][38][39]} The European Union shelved the European Union Association Agreement and Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement with Ukraine, and EU leaders suggested that these agreements would not be ratified unless Ukraine addressed concerns over a "stark deterioration of democracy and the rule of law", including the imprisonment of Tymoshenko and Yuriy Lutsenko in 2011 and 2012.^[33][40][41]

Tymoshenko and her supporters saw the trials (and other similar trials) as political payback by Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and his Party of Regions.^{[14][23][42][43]} Both have denied this.^[44][45][46] According to President Yanukovych the cases were non-partisan measures to combat corruption in Ukraine.^[47][48] He also hinted in late February 2012 that he could pardon Tymoshenko if she would apply for it, but this option was brushed aside by Tymoshenko.^[49][50]