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epa02961765 Former Ukrainian Prime Minister and opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko (C) speaks to policemen at the City districts court in Kiev, Ukraine, 11 October 2011. Yulia Tymoshenko was sentenced to seven years in prison for abuse of power, as her supporters clashed in the streets of the capital Kiev with police. Tymoshenko had exceeded her authority as prime minister to approve a natural gas import deal with Russia in 2009, and caused some 187 million US dollars in losses to taxpayers, Judge Rodion Kireyev ruled. Tymoshenko immediately announced she would appeal the verdict. Around five thousand Tymoshenko supporters who had reportedly gathered around Kiev's central Perchersk city district court attempted several times to push their way into the court building, or to block traffic on Kiev's main street Khreschatyk. EPA/SERGEY DOLZHENKO