Trial of Ukraine's Tymoshenko delayed again

The trial of Ukraine's former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko for tax evasion was adjourned on Friday until Jan. 24 next year, after she refused to appear due to health reasons. Presiding judge Kostyantin Sadovsky emphasized that the case could be considered only in the presence of the defendant. This was the 26th postponement in the case of Tymoshenko, who failed to show up at the court due to severe back pains that she was reportedly suffering. The 53-year-old, a key opposition leader, is currently receiving treatment at a health center in the eastern city of Kharkiv. She was charged with evading taxes while heading an energy company in the 1990s. Tymoshenko was convicted in October 2011 in a separate case on charges of abuse of power over a 2009 gas deal with Russia. She was Ukraine's prime minister from January to September of 2005, and again served from 2007 to 2010.