MOSCOW, February 5 (RAPSI) - TThe Ukrainian parliament voted on Thursday to allow arrest of Rodion Kireyev, judge of Kiev's Pechyorsky District Court, who sentenced former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko to seven years in prison, RIA Novosti reported on Thursday.

The decision was supported by 296 lawmakers while the minimum requirement is 226 votes.

On October 11, 2011, Judge Kireyev issued a verdict, in which he found Tymoshenko guilty and sentenced her to seven years in prison and revoked her of the right to hold public posts for three years.

The Supreme Court of Ukraine assessed the ruling of Judge Kireyev and canceled the verdict by its resolution of April 14, 2014. The criminal case against Tymoshenko was closed due to the absence of a crime.

In 2011, Tymoshenko was handed a seven-year prison term for abusing authority when signing gas deals with Russia in 2009. In May 2012, she began undergoing treatment in a Kharkiv hospital. On February 22, 2014, the Ukrainian parliament decriminalized the criminal code article under which Tymoshenko was convicted. The ex-prime minister was released the same day. Currently, Tymoshenko is a people’s deputy.