MOSCOW, August 28 - RAPSI. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has shown particular interest in trials similar in nature to that of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who applied to the Strasbourg court to quash her arrest and four-month plus custody in 2011.

A Kiev court considered her case wherein she faced charges of abuse of power for her signing of gas supply contracts with Russia.

The ECHR held a public hearing on Tuesday and put 12 questions to both Tymoshenko's representatives and the government's. In particular, they asked if there had been other trials in Ukraine during which defendants were placed in custody for contempt of court. The judges have also shown interest in the discrepancies between Tymoshenko's reports on the prison conditions and her own condition. They wanted to know how the ombudsman was given access to the evidence used to initiate a check into the alleged beating inflicted on Tymoshenko.

Tymoshenko filed an application with the ECHR in August 2011. Her allegations include: political motivation, a lack of a judicial review of the validity of her detention, substandard detention conditions with inadequate medical care, and round-the-clock surveillance during her time spent in the hospital. She claimed the violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits degrading treatment or punishment; Article 5, which ensures the right to liberty and security; Article 8, which ensures the right to private life; and Article 18, which imposes limits on rights restrictions.

Kiev's Pechersky District Court sentenced Tymoshenko to seven years in prison in October 2011 and ordered her to pay almost $190 million in damages. The judgment has seriously raised tensions between Ukraine and the European Union: the West called the sentence politically motivated but Ukrainian leaders have refuted the allegations.