BRUSSELS, May 22 - RAPSI. European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy Stefan Fule supported on Tuesday European Parliament President Martin Schulz's initiative to send a European lawyer to the hearing of Yulia Tymoshenko's appeal against the "gas case" sentence.

He made the statement during a parliamentary session in Strasbourg on the Ukraine situation and the case.

Tymoshenko's daughter Eugenia has attended the session.

The European Parliament is expected to adopt a resolution on Tymoshenko on Thursday. Fule said the lawyer should be "given full access to the judges, defense attorneys and documents."

The situation surrounding the former Ukrainian prime minister, who is serving a seven-year sentence in prison for abuse of power in signing gas supply contracts with Russia in 2009, has led to the deterioration of ties between Kiev and Brussels. The EU considers the sentence to be politically motivated. The Ukrainian authorities have denied the accusations.