Tymoshenko asks Ukrainians to fight ruling party

June 29, 2011: In this file photo, former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko appears during a trial hearing at the Pecherskiy District Court in Kiev, Ukraine. (AP2011)

FILE 2011: Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko looks out from a prison window in Kiev, Ukraine. (AP2011)

Ukraine's jailed ex-prime minister and opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko has called on Ukrainians to put up a fight against the ruling party in the coming parliamentary vote.

Yulia Tymoshenko was sentenced last year to seven years in prison for abuse of office while negotiating a natural gas contract with Russia in 2009. Her supporters say the trial was orchestrated by her opponent President Viktor Yushchenko.

Tymoshenko's audio message from a jail in eastern Ukraine was played out at an opposition rally in Kiev on Friday. The ex-premier called on her supporters to "put up a fight."

She says, "this is a battle between all sensible and strong people and an absolute evil."

The parliamentary vote is slated for Oct. 28.