Supporters of jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko attend a rally near the high court building in Kiev August 16, 2012.[Agencies]

KIEV - A Ukrainian high court rules on Wednesday on an appeal by jailed ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko against her conviction for abuse of office, with few commentators expecting a judgment that will free her and improve ties with the West.

The seven-year prison term handed to Tymoshenko in October has been condemned as political persecution by Western leaders and blocked strategic agreements with the European Union on political association and a free-trade zone.

But despite months of chiding by the EU and the United States, which see Tymoshenko as a victim of selective justice, President Viktor Yanukovich, her political nemesis, has refused to act to secure her release.

In tough remarks last Friday, Yanukovich said he would not negotiate integration with the EU at the price of allowing it to interfere in her case.

Commentators expect a court ruling that is likely to complicate ties with the West as the former Soviet republic approaches an Oct. 28 legislative election in which its democratic credentials will come under the scrutiny of international monitors.

Yanukovich's majority Party of the Regions goes into that election with the government highly unpopular over reforms that have increased taxes on small businesses and raised retirement ages.

Many critics say the exclusion of Tymoshenko -- by far the most vibrant opposition figure -- from heading the list of  unified opposition candidates means the election can be neither free nor fair.

The abuse of office conviction relates to a gas deal that Tymoshenko, 51, brokered with Russia in 2009 when she was prime minister. The Yanukovich government says the agreement was reckless and saddled Ukraine with an enormous price for strategic supplies of gas which is taking a toll on the heavily stressed economy.

Ukrainian state prosecutors have urged the court to uphold her conviction, saying Tymoshenko's guilt was clearly established at her Kiev trial last year.

She has denied betraying the national interest. Her defence lawyers say negotiating the gas agreement with Russia was a political act which did not amount to criminal action.