New Tymoshenko trial delayed again, now to July 23

A new trial against jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was delayed for the fourth time yesterday, a Kharkiv city district court judge announced. The court will reconvene on July 23 to reassess the situation since Tymoshenko could not be tried in absentia and has been unable to attend the proceedings due to health issues. Charges in this pending case were filed by Ukraine’s Security Service in February over the alleged embezzlement of USD 406 mln in state funds by United Energy Systems of Ukraine, a gas trading company headed by Tymoshenko in 1995-1997. She is currently serving a seven-year jail sentence in a Kharkiv penal colony for her role in negotiating a gas supply contract with Russia in 2009; an appeal in that case is due to be considered on Friday (but will also likely be postponed).

Brad Wells: Yesterday’s postponement of court proceedings against Tymoshenko is a welcome development. Previous delays were believed to have been related to the government wanting to tread carefully in the runup to and during Euro-2012. That the international spotlight from hosting that sporting event is over and the courts are not steamrolling through the case against Tymoshenko is a bit of a surprise, given that the prosecutors were going gangbusters as recently as May. Overall, we continue to believe the government is unlikely to change its stance on the cases against Tymoshenko, but this could potentially signal a shift in the handling of the actual court hearings, which have been widely denounced as inhumane and unfair. Thus, we might see a couple more postponements until Tymoshenko’s health recovers enough for her to return to court in person.