KIEV, June 20 (Itar-Tass) — The Kiev district court of Kharkov has summoned Ukrainian Opposition leader Yulia Timoshenko, convicted for exceeding her authority in signing the natural gas supply contracts with Russia, to the trial of the Unified Energy Systems of Ukraine /UESU/ corporation case.
The relevant letter was received by the Kachanovskaya penitentiary where Timoshenko is serving her sentence, the press service of Ukraine’s State Penitentiary System reported.
"In this connection, the medical commission of the Ukrainian Health Care Ministry, recommended the court to create proper and comfortable conditions for Timoshenko's presence in the courtroom during the trial," the press service said.
In late May the Kiev district court of Kharkov postponed, to June 25, the review of the criminal case against Timoshenko because of her illness. Timoshenko is accused of wrongdoing as UESU head in the middle of the 1990th.
She is accused within the framework of the new case of masterminding the theft of budget funds, attempted theft of 25 million hryvni /more than 3 million dollars/, 4-million-hrivna /500,000 dollars/ tax evasion, and using a credit card of a foreign company to pay almost one million dollars worth of bills at expensive hotels and restaurants without reporting the sum to the tax authorities.
Timoshenko headed the UESU in 1995-1997.
Earlier, Ukraine's Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka stated that his predecessor Svyatoslav Piskun had dropped the criminal case against Yulia Timoshenko, in which she was accused of financial violations as head of the Unified Energy Systems of Ukraine /UESU/, at former President Viktor Yushchenko's order. Pshonka made the statement at a news conference.
"On January 24, 2005, Timoshenko took prime minister's office, and on January 28, Prosecutor General Piskun dropped criminal prosecution. I talked with Piskun about the illegal resolution to drop the criminal case which he had sealed with his signature," he said.