Tymoshenko to miss the UESU trial
Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who is currently imprisoned for seven years for abuse of power during her term when she signed what was deemed harmful contract with a Russian gas supplier, refused on 19 April to attend a new trial amid health problems.
Tymoshenko asked the court to hold its preliminary hearing in her absence, citing long-lasting back pain as the reason. “Using my rights stipulated by the Ukrainian Criminal Code, I request that the preliminary hearing of the case be conducted in my absence owing to my poor health,” Tymoshenko said in a statement. The trial is being held in Kharkiv, where she is serving her sentence for what was widely regarded as a politically motivate persecution.
Latest charges against Tymoshenko stipulate that during her term as member of the parliament, she allegedly gave instructions to a United Energy Systems of Ukraine (UESU) accountant. It surely does not help the Ukrainian authorities to lift the stigma of political persecution which already brought Kyiv’s relations with the EU and the US to considerable tensions.
Tymoshenko’s lawyer Serhiy Vlasenko said that “the accountant denies it, Tymoshenko denies it, there is no evidence of this, but the authorities are taking advantage of all the propaganda opportunities to tell a different story”.
About 1,000 people have gathered outside the courthouse where Tymoshenko’s new trial should commence, with about 300 police officers keeping order. Both supporters and opponents of Yulia Tymoshenko organised rallies.
The EU and Ukraine recently initialled the agreement on a broad cooperation. However, the EU leaders conditioned ratification and entry into force of it by putting an end to persecution of political opponents by Kyiv. The new trial against the former prime minister Tymoshenko could put additional strains on the fragile relationship.
Ukrainian authorities also accused Tymoshenko of involvement in the 1996 contract killing of a powerful businessman, Yevhen Shcherban. Tymoshenko denied these allegations, too.