Kiev court postpones hearings of Tymoshenko case

A Kiev court postponed the hearings of the case against former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko until July 6, giving Tymoshenko's new lawyer Mykola Tytarenko time to get acquainted with the case materials. The court partially granted the defendants' requests. Tymoshenko, who lost the premiership following a vote of no confidence in March 2010, is charged with misusing $425 million the government received in 2009 from the selling of its carbon emission rights under the Kyoto protocol, as well as signing a disadvantageous gas deal with Russia that was ruinous for the Ukrainian economy. Tymoshenko said that she considers the time which the court gave to her new lawyer to become familiarized with the case "unrealistic." "We asked for a month, but instead the judge considered that one day, tomorrow, is enough to become familiarized (with the case)," Tymoshenko said. Tymoshenko has dismissed the charges as political, saying she is being targeted for standing up to President Viktor Yanukovych, who beat her in the presidential election in February 2010. She has filed a complaint at the European Court of Human Rights. If convicted, the heroine of the 2004 Orange Revolution may be jailed for up to 10 years.