KIEV, February 19 - RAPSI. Former Donetsk Region Governor Volodymir Shcherban, who is an eyewitness in the case of lawmaker Yevhen Shcherban's murder, will not be questioned until March 4 as he has fallen ill.

The hearing was postponed by Pechersk District Court Judge Anna Medushevskaya, a Ukrainian opposition party reported on Tuesday.

Shcherban, the head of the Aton financial corporation, was shot dead at a Donetsk airport in November 1996. His wife and an airport employee were also killed. Investigators suspect two former prime ministers, Yulia Tymoshenko and Pavlo Lazarenko, of organizing the murder.

Tymoshenko has stated that she wants to be present when the witnesses are questioned in the murder trial, her attorney Sergei Sas told journalists earlier.
However, although her request was granted, she refused to appear in court on February 15.

In October 2011, Tymoshenko was sentenced to seven years in prison for abuse of power based on a 2009 gas contract that she signed with Russia.

In late March, a second case bringing further charges against Tymoshenko was filed with Kharkov's Kievsky District Court. The case deals with her activity at United Energy Systems. She has also been accused of misappropriating funds.

Lazarenko was released from Terminal Island Prison in California in late 2012. The former official spent over 10 years in prison for money laundering and extortion. Lazarenko is still in the United States. Both he and Tymoshenko deny the accusations.