Tymoshenko again refuses to participate in UESU case hearing, says prison service

Former prime minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko has once again written a letter of refusal to participate in a sitting of Kyivsky District Court in Kharkiv, scheduled for August 14 in the case on financial irregularities of the United Energy System of Ukraine (UESU), according to the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine.

"In her statement, the convict refers to doctors' recommendations to refrain from court hearings for a while and to limit meetings with visitors," the press service of the State Penitentiary Service said on Monday.

The Penitentiary Service said that the judge of Kyivsky District Court in Kharkiv and the leadership of Kachanivska colony had been informed.

Tymoshenko has been refusing to attend the hearings of the case of financial frauds connected with the UESU she once headed in view of her health problems. She has not attended a single hearing in this case and she has refused to take part in a video linkup hearings as well.

Doctors of the Charite clinic, Germany, requested on July 30 that Tymoshenko's medical treatment at a clinic in Kharkiv be extended to eight weeks. First Deputy Health Minister and chair of an international medial commission Raisa Moiseyenko said the court would hopefully take this recommendation into account. She also said that Ukrainian and German doctors had recommended that Tymoshenko cut the number of meetings with visitors.

Tymoshenko's defense lawyer MP Serhiy Vlasenko said he doubted that the court would heed the doctors' recommendation.

August 5 marked a year since Tymoshenko was jailed.