A Ukrainian court sentenced former prime minister Yulia
Tymoshenko to seven years in prison on Tuesday for criminally
exceeding her powers when she inked a ten-year natural gas deal
with Russia in 2009, in what Tymoshenko's supporters and Western
officials are calling a show trial. The European Union is
warning that the sentence threatens Kiev's bid for E.U.
membership and integration, and Tymoshenko and her lawyers say
they'll appeal the ruling in local courts and the European Court
of Human Rights. Observers cite three main reasons why they
think the case is politically motivated.    • Political
Crackdown: The BBC explains that in 2010 Ukrainian
President Viktor F. Yanukovich, a former Soviet
apparatchik, narrowly defeated Tymoshenko, a leader of the 2004
pro-democracy, Western-leaning Orange Revolution, and that he
may be trying to sideline the country's top opposition leader
ahead of parliamentary elections next year. Notably, the court
banned Tymoshenko today from assuming political office for three
year