Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has filed another statement with the High Specialized Court for Civil and Criminal Cases asking that the appeal of her conviction in the gas case proceed in her absence, according to Official web site of Yulia Tymoshenko. "In spite of the absurdity of the situation, in spite of the unlawfulness, we expect that in two days the court of cassation, in spite of Yulia Tymoshenko’s third statement submitted by her asking that this case be heard in her absence, as this is her right, I think the High Specialized Court will postpone its consideration of this case," said lawyer Serhiy Vlasenko.
He maintains that the court is deliberately delaying the appeal. "Yanukovych, like fire, fears the consideration of Yulia Tymoshenko’s case in the European Court on August 28 and is doing everything, despite the objective condition of her health, to delay the hearing of this case in the High Specialized Court."
The High Specialized Court in January 2012 accepted the complaint filed by Yulia Tymoshenko’s lawyer Oleksandr Plakhotnyuk over the illegality of the ruling issued by the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv sentencing the ex-premier to seven years in prison for allegedly abusing power during the signing of gas deals with Russia in 2009.
The high court was to begin consideration of the complaint on May 15, but postponed the proceedings first until June 26 and then July 12 on the basis of the prosecution’s "concern" for the respect of Yulia Tymoshenko’s right to be present in court. Since May 15 the prosecutors have been demanding the ex-premier’s participation in the cassation process, despite her written statements asking that the appeal continue in her absence while she undergoes medical treatment in a hospital.
