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Ukraine Delays Tymoshenko Trial

KHARKIV, Ukraine — The tax evasion trial of Yulia Tymoshenko was put off until July 23 due to the former Ukrainian prime minister's inability to attend hearings on health grounds, a Kharkiv court ruled Tuesday.

Tymoshenko, sentenced to seven years in prison last October on a separate abuse-of-office charge, is being treated for back trouble in a state-run hospital.

Tymoshenko denies wrongdoing. She has said she is not well enough to attend the court proceedings.

Judge Kostyantyn Sadovsky adjourned further hearings into the tax evasion case because court-appointed doctors had yet to complete Tymoshenko's examination and establish whether she is fit to attend her own trial.

The conviction of Tymoshenko, a political opponent of President Viktor Yanukovych, has soured Ukraine's ties with the European Union, which sees the ruling as an example of selective justice.

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