KIEV, February 12 - RAPSI, Alyona Meita. Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has again refused to attend the hearing of the financial fraud case initiated against her 10 months ago, the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine reported on Monday. The hearing was set for Tuesday, February 12.

The trial against Tymoshenko, who is believed to have been involved in financial fraud during the latter half of the 1990s, when she headed United Energy Systems of Ukraine (UESU), began in April 2012. But the hearings have been postponed time and again due to her refusal to attend them for health reasons.

"This convict has again refused to attend the court hearing, saying that she's in the hospital. Tymoshenko has refused to attend court hearings for 10 months," the penitentiary service said.

Yulia Tymoshenko began serving her seven-year sentence at Kharkiv prison in late December 2011. She was sentenced for abuse of power for signing a gas supply contract with Russia in 2009. In May 2012, she was moved to the city hospital due to health problems.

Tymoshenko and former Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko are also suspected of involvement in the murder of Donetsk businessman Olexandr Momot in 1996. On January 18, 2013, Tymoshenko was notified that she was a suspect in the murder of businessman and lawmaker Yevhen Shcherban, his wife and two other people in 1996.