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Ukrainian prosecutors to charge Timoshenko with involvement in lawmaker's murder

German doctors recommended not to "disturb Timoshenko for eight weeks,' i.e. until the second half of September

KIEV, August 9 (Itar-Tass) — The Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office /PGO/ is preparing to bring new charges against former Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko. She is suspected of involvement in the murder of lawmaker Yevgeny Shcherban.

"We have enough grounds to bring charges against her," First Deputy Prosecutor General Renat Kuzmin said in an interview to the Kiev-based newspaper Segodnya.

German doctors recommended not to "disturb Timoshenko for eight weeks,' i.e. until the second half of September.

"We're waiting for this period to end. Once the doctors say she can be troubled, we'll come to her with accusations. We have everything ready for it," Kuzmin said.

The first deputy prosecutor general reminded that the case against the perpetrators of Shcherban's murder in November 1996 "was investigated and sent to court, which passed a verdict."

However, the proceedings against the masterminds made a separate case. It was investigated by personnel of the PGO's central office. They ascertained the persons involved in the organization and funding of this contract murder. "We intend to charge Yulia Timoshenko with complicity," Kuzmin stated.

Lawmaker Shcherban and his wife were killed at the Donetsk airport on November 3, 1996. The investigator and the court ascertained that they had been shot and killed at the airport by a criminal group.

On April 5, 2012, the PGO reopened the Shcherban murder probe, following the statement by the diseased person's son. Ruslan Shcherban passed a number of documents to the investigators.

Prosecutors believe that the crime was funded by former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavel Lazarenko, who is serving a sentence in the USA for money laundering, and Yulia Timoshenko who headed the Unified Energy Systems of Ukraine corporation then.

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