The party colleagues of former Ukrainian Prime Minister and Batkivschyna Party leader Yulia Tymoshenko have said they oppose there being a long break in the hearing of the gas case, while the prosecutors in the case say the judicial process was not violated.
"The fabricated criminal case against Tymoshenko is falling to pieces before the eyes of the entire Ukrainian community and the eyes of the international community," the first deputy leader of the Batkivschyna Party, Oleksandr Turchynov, told journalists in Kyiv on Sept. 12.
He said that there were no legal grounds for the arrest of Tymoshenko and her prosecution.
"Understanding this, and wanting to simply win time until all of the international negotiations are held, after refusing to consider a petition from lawyers to change the measure of restraint [against Tymoshenko] this morning, [Judge Rodion] Kireyev announced a break until Sept. 27 without providing any explanations," Turchynov said.
The politician said he was indignant that Tymoshenko would "illegally stay in jail" all this time, describing such actions by the judge as a crime.
Prosecutor Liliya Frolova, in turn, said that the decision to announce a break in a court session was within the powers of the court. She said that the court had taken such a decision due to the fact that Tymoshenko had stated that she had been given too little time to prepare for the debates.
"And the court decided to give her additional time to prepare for the debates and postponed them until Sept. 27 this year. The process is led by the court, and it is the right of the court to set the time and mechanism of the consideration of the case," she said.
When asked what punishment the prosecutor’s office will demand for Tymoshenko, Frolova said: "You’ll hear everything in court on Sept. 27."
