Second case against Tymoshenko goes to trial

A Kharkiv district court is due today to begin hearings in the second case against former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko to go to trial. Charges in the case were filed by Ukraine’s Security Service in February over the alleged embezzlement of USD 405.5 mln in state funds by United Energy Systems of Ukraine, a national gas trading company headed by Tymoshenko in 1995-1997. Tymoshenko herself will not be present for the proceedings due to health issues. She is currently serving a seven-year jail sentence in a Kharkiv penal colony for her role in negotiating a gas supply contract with Russian in 2009; an appeal in that case is scheduled to be heard by a Kyiv court on May 15. Ukraine’s prosecutor general is investigating a number of other cases against Tymoshenko, including on charges of murder and treason.