Boycott fear forces delay in appeal for jailed Yulia

Ukraine, threatened with a boycott of the Euro 2012 it co-hosts next month with Poland over the jailing of opposition politician Yulia Tymoshenko, has put off a ruling on her appeal until the football tournament begins.

The European Union has condemned the treatment of Mrs Tymoshenko, jailed for seven years for allegedly abusing her office. It has called for her release and mothballed trade deals with Ukraine in protest.

European leaders are also considering a boycott of Ukraine’s part of the football championship, which it will stage in June and July with Poland.

The delay means Mr Tymoshenko’s hearings will resume during the tournament and less than a week before the 1 July final in Kiev, capital of Ukraine.

Her defence lawyer criticised the ruling as a ruse to keep her behind bars for as long as possible. Ukraine’s Specialised Supreme Court on civil and criminal cases was to begin hearings into her appeal yesterday.

But state prosecutors asked for more time to study further information on the case and because of the absence of Mrs Tymoshenko, who this week was moved from prison into a hospital to be treated for chronic back pain.

“The prosecution’s motion is granted,” Judge Stanislav Mishchenko said, adjourning the trial until 26 June.

Mrs Tymoshenko’s lawyer Serhiy Vlasenko said the aim of the move was to delay an appeal to the European Court for Human Rights.

Some European politicians have said they will stay away from Euro 2012 matches in protest, but EU foreign ministers on Monday held back from formulating a common policy on whether to boycott the event.

Under a deal between the German and Ukrainian governments, a doctor from Berlin-based clinic Charite is treating Mrs Tymoshenko in a state-run hospital in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv