Kharkov's District Court suspended the second trial of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko until May 21 on Saturday, due to her absence on grounds of poor health, a spokeswoman for Tymoshenko’s Batkivshchyna party said.
“The prosecutor’s office supports the suspension of the case...to draw conclusions about Tymoshenko’s health,” the spokeswoman said.
Tymoshenko has been charged with attempting to embezzle $405 million of government funds during the 1990s, when she headed Ukraine’s state corporation United Energy Systems. Tymoshenko maintains her innocence and claims the charges are politically motivated by her political arch-rival President Viktor Yanukovych.
Tymoshenko, who is already serving seven years in jail for abuse of office in a separate case, has severe back pain and cannot walk. The Ukrainian authorities have authorized Tymoshenko to receive treatment at a hospital outside the prison, but she has refused to go there and is on hunger strike
Doctors from German clinic Charite who examined Tymoshenko on Friday diagnosed her with “an acute form of herniation of intervertebral disks.”
Tymoshenko’s defense said her health has suffered greatly in prison, and she even cannot get out of bed by herself.
Several thousand Tymoshenko supporters and opponents gathered near the courthouse before the session began.
