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Supporters of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko chant slogans at a protest in front of Ukraine’s high court in Kiev on July 12. (Genya Savilov/AFP/GettyImages)
The appeal of jailed former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was delayed for a third time on Thursday due to results from her medical examination.
Judge Stanislav Mishchenko said her next hearing would be more than a month away and said she needs to produce medical records to go ahead with the appeal, AFP reported. She was not at the hearing on Thursday, citing debilitating back pain.
Tymoshenko, 51, is serving a seven-year jail term after she was convicted for abusing her power while she was the prime minister. She and her supporters have said her conviction was politically motivated because she is an opponent of current President Viktor Yanukovych.
According to Reuters, she is on temporary release from prison in order to be treated at a hospital.
The defense team expects the Ukraine high court to reject the appeal, but they are then going to file papers with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France.
Last month, her lawyer Serhiy Vlasenko told Reuters: “There can be no justice for Tymoshenko, so all the hopes of Tymoshenko’s defense lie beyond Ukraine’s borders.”
