Yulia Tymoshenko’s jailing ruled illegal

The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has ruled that Ukraine's detention of former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko was unlawful, but threw out accusations that she was mistreated.

"The Court considered that the detention had been arbitrary and unlawful during the entire period," the judges of the court said.

The judges also found that "the lawfulness of her detention had not been properly reviewed" by the Ukrainian judiciary "and that she had no possibility to seek compensation for her unlawful deprivation of liberty."

A Ukrainian ambassador reportedly walked out of the courtroom in response.

However, on complaints by the jailed ex-premier over alleged ill-treatment during her transfer to hospital last year, the judges found there had been no violation of the European convention on human rights.

Tymoshenko's daughter hailed the EU court ruling as a 'first victory'.

Speaking shortly after the ruling, Tymoshenko's lawyer, Serhiy Vlasenko, urged Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych to immediately release his client, who has been detained since August 2011.

"The president is afraid of Mrs Tymoshenko because she is the only politician capable of defeating him in any election. That's why she is in prison," he said.

Both parties have three months to appeal against the ECHR ruling.

European officials have said that Tymoshenko's release was a key objective to any eventual membership to the European Union.

Tymoshenko, who lost a disputed presidential election to Yanukovych in 2010, was jailed for seven years on what she says are trumped up charges of overstepping her authority while premier by agreeing a gas deal with Russia.