Tymoshenko case hearings put off

KHARKIV — A Ukrainian court Monday put off until July 31 the hearings in a tax evasion case against former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko because she was unable to attend the trial for health reasons. Tymoshenko, sentenced to seven years in prison last October on a separate charge of abuse of office, is being treated for back trouble in a state-run hospital. “The court has found it impossible to hear the case in Tymoshenko’s absence,” Judge Kostyantyn Sadovsky told the court in the city of Kharkiv. Tymoshenko’s prosecution for abuse of office soured Ukraine’s ties with the European Union which saw it as an example of selective justice. — AFP