Yulia Tymoshenkop has already been convicted and sentenced [JURIST report] to seven years in prison under charges of abuse of power and corruption. Her current trial is on charges of tax evasion, and she is awaiting trial on a charge of murder [JURIST reports]. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) held a hearing [JURIST report] in August on Tymoshenko's appeal to the abuse of power conviction. Tymoshenko alleges that all charges against her are politically motivated. Many in the West have agreed with her and support her efforts to overturn her conviction. JURIST guest columnist Myroslaw Smorodsky [official profile] of the Board of Governors of the Ukrainian American Bar Association [official website] called her conviction [JURIST comment] a "very tragic step backwards and a serious setback in the democratic evolution of the Ukrainian nation."