KIEV, Aug. 21 - Ukrainian prosecutors urged a high court on Tuesday to reject the appeal of jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko against her seven-year jail sentence for abuse of office.

Judges later withdrew to consider their decision which opposition figures and defense lawyers, anxious for a quick ruling, expected to be announced only in mid-September.

Prosecutors argued that Tymoshenko's guilt had been clearly established at her trial last year. The abuse of office conviction relates to a gas deal which Tymoshenko brokered with Russia in 2009 when she was prime minister.

"During the investigation ... the intentional nature of her actions had been established. Everything points to the fact that the actions of Tymoshenko were criminal," Oksana Drogobytskaya, the state prosecutor, said, Reuters reported. "The (gas) contract continues to inflict massive damage on Ukraine."

Tymoshenko's defense lawyer, Serhiy Vlasenko, told reporters he expected the judges to announce their findings between September 11-13.

The political opposition prefers a quick clear-cut decision on Tymoshenko's appeal well before the election in order to take it to the European Court of Human Rights, if need be.

Arseniy Yatseniuk, who has taken over at the helm of the united opposition in the absence of Tymoshenko, said that he feared a decision would be slow in coming.

"The process is complicated for us because we need to pass on the papers (from the appeal) to a fair court, the European Court of Human Rights. We know that there is a fair court in Europe," Yatseniuk told reporters outside the Kiev court.

The government of President Viktor Yanukovych says the agreement was reckless and saddled the former Soviet republic with an enormous price for strategic supplies of gas which is now taking a toll on the heavily-stressed economy.

Tymoshenko, who is receiving treatment for back trouble in a state-run clinic in the city of Kharkiv and was not present at the appeal hearing, denies betraying the national interest. She says she is the victim of a vendetta by Yanukovych, who narrowly beat her for the presidency in February 2010. (rt/ez)