The European Court of Human Rights has decided to “fast track” a hearing into former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s August complaint over her detention in Kiev.
“The Court took the decision to give priority to the case, Tymoshenko v. Ukraine, in view of the serious and sensitive nature of the allegations raised,” the court announced referring to a Dec. 14 decision.
In her complaint, Tymoshenko alleged that her “criminal prosecution and detention were politically motivated; that there has been no judicial review of the lawfulness of her detention in Kyiv SIZO no. 13; and, that her detention conditions are inadequate, with no medical care provided for her numerous health problems.”
According to the European Court, Ukraine’s government has been notified about the complaints and asked to submit “observations.”
The ex-premier was jailed in October for seven years on abuse of office charges over a gas deal she concluded with Russia in 2009, a verdict internationally condemned as politically motivated.
On Tuesday, the Kiev Court Of Appeals decided to consider in absentia Tymoshenko’s appeal of the verdict in her gas case. Lawyers for the opposition politician say that she can not visit the hearings due to ill health.
Since her conviction on the abuse of office charges, prosecutors have reopened an investigation into tax evasion dating from the second half of the 1990s, when Tymoshenko was the head of United Energy Systems of Ukraine.
