You're reading: Regions Party: Tymoshenko escaping from trial to hospital

Deputy Head of the Regions Party parliamentary faction Vadym Kolesnichenko has said that a recent statement of First Deputy Head of the Batkivschyna Party Oleksandr Turchynov shows former Ukrainian Premier Yulia Tymoshenko's reluctance to take part in court hearings of the criminal case on the activities of the United Energy Systems of Ukraine Corporation (UESU).

Kolesnichenko noted that Tymoshenko uses traditional arguments about her health for this, according to the press service of the Regions Party.

"In reality we can see a situation when health of Yulia Tymoshenko has become the base coin of her team. This is a clear tactics of the defense team aimed at substitution of real results of court hearings by the health condition of the accused. They are doing everything to distract attention from the issue," the lawmaker said.

At the same time, Kolesnichenko said that objective consideration shows deficiencies in the line of the defense team.

"After ten-kilometer jogging, about which Mrs. Tymoshenko was talking half a year ago, and those high-heeled shoes she wore in the cell of the Lukyanivske detention facility, I don’t believe that this woman has sick back and can barely move. In addition, the PGO and the penitentiary systems created all conditions for her treatment. They created conditions, about which prisoners can only dream," the politician said.

"Why do Tymoshenko’s lawyers keep talking about health, although they realize how absurd their attempts are? I think they understand that their legal position is weak. The UESU case is an absolutely economic case. We are speaking about economic crimes and it is impossible to transfer Tymoshenko’s actions as a businesswoman into political context, as this happened with Tymoshenko’s actions as an official. That is why they invent various ways to draw attention and make if not political then at least domestic resonance so as to interrupt work of courts," Kolesnichenko said.