WASHINGTON, Nov. 29 – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday sharply criticized Ukraine’s October elections and expressed concern about selective prosecution of opposition leaders.

“Ukraine’s October elections were a step backwards for democracy and we remain deeply concerned about the selective prosecution of opposition leaders,” Clinton said in a speech on Europe at the Brookings Institution.

Clinton issued similar concerns soon after the country’s parliamentary elections on October 28, suggesting not much progress has been made by the Ukrainian authorities to improve the situation.

Ukraine’s former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, sentenced to seven years in prison in October 2011, ended her 17-day hunger strike following an advice from German doctors. Tymoshenko was protesting alleged fraud at the parliamentary elections in Ukraine.

A Ukrainian court in October 2011 sentenced Tymoshenko, 51, for abusing her powers as prime minister when she forced through a 2009 natural gas deal with Russia.

The European Union and the United States have condemned her jailing as an example of selective justice and Brussels has shelved landmark deals on free trade and political association with Kiev over the issue.

Tymoshenko earlier this month urged opposition parties to increase pressure on President Viktor Yanukovych who she said was ultimately responsible for the falsifications at the elections.

Tymoshenko is currently facing a second trial on new charges of embezzlement and tax evasion, but the hearings have been repeatedly delayed due to her health condition.

She appeared "rather depressed" to doctors visiting her from Germany, who said her medical condition was aggravated by her protest.

"The hunger strike process brought a rather negative effect on her pain symptoms, and the pain has now increased considerably," said doctor Lutz Harms, after visiting Tymoshenko in Kharkiv earlier this month.

Tymoshenko has been since this summer in the Kharkiv hospital, where she was moved from her prison cell following complaints of back pain. (bi/ez)