The conviction Tuesday of former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko in a "politically motivated" trial could have "profound implications," the EU warned as the two sides were close to ending talks on a landmark free-trade deal, dpa reported.
"The European Union is deeply disappointed with the verdict," Maja Kocijancic, a spokeswoman for the bloc's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, told reporters in Brussels.
"This unfortunately confirms that justice is being applied selectively in politically motivated prosecutions of the leaders of the opposition and members of the former government," Kocijancic said, reading a statement issued on behalf of the EU's 27 members.
Ukrainian authorities were urged to grant Tymoshenko and other opposition leaders on trial "a fair, transparent and impartial" appeal process, and warned against preventing them from running in parliamentary elections next year.
"The way the Ukrainian authorities will generally respect universal values and rule of law, and specifically how they will handle these cases, risks having profound implications for the EU-Ukraine bilateral relationship," the bloc warned.
Speaking after an EU foreign ministers' meeting on Monday, Ashton said technical talks on an EU-Ukraine political association and free trade agreement - which were due to be completed by December - would continue even if Tymoshenko were found guilty.
But she warned that, once the negotiations were over, the landmark deal might not be ratified by EU governments and the European Parliament.