The defense team of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has appealed to the Supreme Court of Ukraine through the Higher Specialized Court, asking it to review and overturn her seven-year prison sentence in the gas contract case.

"The defense team of Tymoshenko has just registered in the Higher Specialized Court an appeal by Yulia Volodymyrivna [Tymoshenko] to the Supreme Court for the review and reversal of the politically motivated verdict in the gas case," the ex-premier's defense counsel, Serhiy Vlasenko, told reporters after the application was registered in the court.

The defense counsel recalled that on July 31 the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) judgment on the Tymoshenko vs. Ukraine case challenging the lawfulness of the ex-premier's detention entered into force. The court found a number of violations during the ex-premier's arrest in the frames of the proceedings in the gas contracts case, the lawyer said. According to him, this gives the defense team grounds to expect that the Supreme Court will reverse the "unlawful politically motivated verdict" and rules to release Tymoshenko immediately.

He said that under the current legislation, in order to appeal to the Supreme Court, one needs a verdict of the Higher Specialized Court that the appeal can be subject to consideration. The Higher Specialized Court has 15 days to decide whether to send the case to the Supreme Court, he explained.

If the application is submitted to the Supreme Court, then its consideration may take no more than a day, which will depend on the court, Vlasenko said.

On October 11, 2011, the Pechersky District Court in Kyiv sentenced Tymoshenko to seven years in prison for exceeding her authority when signing gas supply contracts with Russia in 2009. She has been serving her sentence at the Kachanivska correctional facility in Kharkiv since late December 2011.

Since May 9, 2012, she has been staying at a Kharkiv hospital and receiving medial treatment there.

The ECHR ruled on April 30, 2013, that Tymoshenko's arrest violated three paragraphs of Article 5 (right to freedom and security) and also Article 18 (restriction of rights) of the European Convention.

On July 30, the ECHR judgment acquired final status.

Ukraine's Justice Ministry said on July 30 that Ukraine had fulfilled all of its obligations under the ECHR's ruling in Tymoshenko's complaint against infringements by the Ukrainian government of her rights.

"Today we can state that the ruling in the Tymoshenko vs. Ukraine case has been carried out in full and entails no further additional actions or obligations on the part of Ukraine. We can also declare the absence of any outstanding obligations under the ruling," the ministry said in a statement.

Apart from the complaint against Tymoshenko's arrest, her defense team also filed a complaint with the ECHR against the violation of her right to a fair and public hearing due to political motives (Articles 6 and 18 of the European Convention on Human Rights), meaning her conviction in the 2009 gas supply case. The proceedings on the complaint were opened in October 2012. On July 15, 2013, the court started to consider the second complaint.