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Ukrainian Supreme Specialized Court recesses indefinitely to judge Timoshenko cassation appeal

The prosecutor suggested that the Supreme Specialized Court should reject the cassation appeal of Timoshenko and uphold the seven-year sentence

KIEV. August 21 (Itar-Tass) – The Ukrainian Supreme Specialized Court for Civil and Criminal Cases has recessed for making a judgment on the cassation appeal of ex-Ukrainian Prime Minister, Batkivshchyna Party leader Yulia Timoshenko with regard to the ‘gas’ case. The court did not say when the ruling might come but promised a prior notification.

Timoshenko’s lawyer Sergei Vlasenko said the situation was unprecedented – the presiding judge failed to schedule the judgment. “The court might have needed time for manipulations,” he said, suggesting that a ruling was possible after August 28 when the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) started to consider the Timoshenko appeal.

The prosecutor suggested that the Supreme Specialized Court should reject the cassation appeal of Timoshenko and uphold the seven-year sentence.

The court sentenced Timoshenko on October 11, 2011, for exceeding her authority in the signing of the gas contracts with Russia in 2009. She was also compelled to pay 1.51 billion hryvni (almost $200 million) to Neftegaz Ukrainy.

A new case against her was opened on October 13, 2011, for writing off the debt of the United Energy Systems of Ukraine private corporation to the Russian Defense Ministry worth $405,500,000 to the state budget of Ukraine, while being the corporation president, under conspiracy with other former Prime Minister Pavel Lazarenko. Timoshenko is serving a seven-year-term in Kharkov.

She started to receive therapy at the Kharkov clinic on May 9 when her health deteriorated.