Ukraine high court postpones Tymoshenko appeal

Ukraine's high court Tuesday postponed the appeal of ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko against her seven year jail sentence until well after the Euro football gets underway, to the fury of her defence. The Kiev court, Ukraine's highest judicial instance, delayed the hearing to June 26 following a motion brought by prosecutors but vehemently contested by the defence who angrily accused the authorities of dragging out the process.
The long delay marks a new complication in the legal controversy surrounding Tymoshenko's conviction, which is threatening to overshadow its hosting of the Euro 2012 football that kicks off next month. There has also been mounting international concern over the health of the 51-year-old, who suffers debilitating back pain and went on hunger strike for 20 days after accusing prison guards of beating her.
"We have decided to satisfy the motion of the defence and delay the hearing to June 26," judge Stanislav Mishchenko told the court, to shouts of "shame" from the defence. The prosecutors had argued that the hearing could not go ahead in the absence of Tymoshenko, who is currently hospitalised and unable to attend court. "They have already started working along the prosecution's scenario, which is to delay the process," said Olexander Turchynov, the first deputy of Tymoshenko's party.
The delay means that the appeal by the High Specialized Court of Ukraine for Civil and Criminal Cases - whose decisions cannot be appealed - will come deep into the Euro football tournament just before the semi-finals. Tymoshenko's supporters have accused President Viktor Yanukovych of pursuing the case in an act of revenge against his arch political rival while the European Union has also objected that the case is politically motivated.
She was arrested in August before being convicted in October and at the end of 2011 sent to a penal colony in the eastern city of Kharkiv, one of four Ukrainian cities co-hosting Euro football with Poland. Earlier this month Ukraine transferred her for treatment to a Kharkiv hospital where she has already received visitors including the Lithuanian president and a US delegation. Her lawyer Sergiy Vlasenko said the defence would not even bother to wait for the eventual ruling from the court and would proceed straight away with an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.