You're reading: Court may use video-link to judge Ukraine’s Tymoshenko

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich acted on Thursday to clear the way for arch-foe Yulia Tymoshenko to be tried on embezzlement and tax evasion charges from her hospital bed by signing legislation permitting a court to use video-link. 

The bill would ensure the presence of someone physically unable to attend their trial by setting up a video conference linking the subject to the hearing, his press service said.

Presidential aides said the new video procedure could be used only if the accused was in agreement.

Tymoshenko was sentenced to seven years in prison last October on a charge of abuse of office during her time as prime minister – a trial the European Union condemned as politically motivated.

But she has been moved from prison in the eastern city of Kharkiv to a state-run local hospital because of back trouble and her inability to attend a new trial has so far prevented it from going ahead.

After Tymoshenko, through her lawyer, refused to take part in the trial by video-link, the Kharkiv judge on July 31 ordered another postponement until Aug. 14, by which time he said the issue might be clarified.

Tymoshenko is separately appealing against her conviction on the abuse-of-office charge. The next hearing of her appeal is scheduled for Aug. 16 in the capital Kiev.

Tymoshenko’s conviction for abuse of office stems from a gas deal which she brokered with Russia in 2009 as prime minister.

The Yanukovich government says the deal saddled Ukraine with an unfair price for gas imports that has hamstrung the economy.

Tymoshenko says she is the victim of a vendetta by Yanukovich, who defeated her in a presidential election in February 2010.

The EU has backed her, saying her prosecution smacks of selective justice, and it has shelved landmark deals on free trade and political association in response to her conviction.