Former Ukraine PM sentenced to 9 years for fraud, extortion

In 1999 during his country's presidential election campaign, Lazarenko sought political asylum in the U.S., claiming he had faced three assassination attempts. Instead the U.S. authorities issued an order for his arrest.

Lazarenko was convicted in June 2004 and he has since remained under house arrest at an undisclosed location on $86 million bail.

He denied the charges.

The sentence is half of the maximum sought by prosecutors but five years more than his lawyers asked for, a RIA Novosti correspondent reported Saturday.

Defense attorneys said that the prosecution was politically motivated and that they would appeal the sentence.