KHARKIV - Serhiy Vlasenko, a public defender of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, does not see legal instruments to ensure Tymoshenko's presence in court before she recovers from her illness.
“The court has one legal opportunity, of which the defense has been
talking all the time: to suspend the proceedings until Yulia
Volodymyrivna’s [Tymoshenko’s] recovery. This is the only option
stipulated for such situations. If someone is ill, he or she should be
given the opportunity to fully recover, and this is what the law
stipulates,” Vlasenko told journalists near Central Clinical Hospital
No. 5 in Kharkiv, where Tymoshenko is receiving treatment now, in
commenting on a statement by Victoria Kalyta, the counsel for the
prosecution at the judicial proceedings regarding Unified Energy Systems
of Ukraine, who said that the court will find legal instruments to make
sure that Tymoshenko attend the hearings as the defendant.
Vlasenko also pointed out that Tymoshenko’s demand that she be discharged from the hospital has still not been considered.
“I would like to call it to your attention that Yulia Volodymyrivna’s
statement demanding her discharge has remained unconsidered for three
weeks. The situation is crazy: on the one hand, they are not discharging
her, and on the other, the prosecutor says the court will consider
opportunities to bring her to the court – this is just crazy,” he said.
The court hearing the case dealing with Unified Energy Systems of
Ukraine announced a recess until November 23 due to Tymoshenko’s
absence.
Kyiv’s Pechersky District Court found Tymoshenko guilty of abuse of
office in signing gas supply contracts with Russia in 2009 and sentenced
her to 7 years in prison on October 11, 2011. Tymoshenko has been
serving her sentence at a penitentiary in Kharkiv since the end of
December 2011.
On May 9, 2012, Tymoshenko was transferred to Central Clinical
Hospital No. 5 in Kharkiv to undergo a treatment course in line with
recommendations by doctors from the Beriln-based Charite clinic. The
last time German doctors visited their patient in Kharkiv was on October
14.
A preliminary hearing on the Unified Energy Systems case took place
without Tymoshenko on April 19. Since then, the court has several times
postponed the start of the hearings as Tymoshenko refused to take part
in them even in the form of a video conference, citing health reasons.
