Serhiy Vlasenko, a public defender of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, does not see legal instruments to ensure Tymoshenko's presence in court before she recovers from her illness.

"The court has one legal opportunity, of which the defense has been talking all the time: to suspend the proceedings until Yulia Volodymyrivna's [Tymoshenko's] recovery. This is the only option stipulated for such situations. If someone is ill, he or she should be given the opportunity to fully recover, and this is what the law stipulates," Vlasenko told journalists near Central Clinical Hospital No. 5 in Kharkiv, where Tymoshenko is receiving treatment now, in commenting on a statement by Victoria Kalyta, the counsel for the prosecution at the judicial proceedings regarding Unified Energy Systems of Ukraine, who said that the court will find legal instruments to make sure that Tymoshenko attend the hearings as the defendant.

Vlasenko also pointed out that Tymoshenko's demand that she be discharged from the hospital has still not been considered.

"I would like to call it to your attention that Yulia Volodymyrivna's statement demanding her discharge has remained unconsidered for three weeks. The situation is crazy: on the one hand, they are not discharging her, and on the other, the prosecutor says the court will consider opportunities to bring her to the court - this is just crazy," he said.

The court hearing the case dealing with Unified Energy Systems of Ukraine announced a recess until November 23 due to Tymoshenko's absence.

Kyiv's Pechersky District Court found Tymoshenko guilty of abuse of office in signing gas supply contracts with Russia in 2009 and sentenced her to 7 years in prison on October 11, 2011. Tymoshenko has been serving her sentence at a penitentiary in Kharkiv since the end of December 2011.

On May 9, 2012, Tymoshenko was transferred to Central Clinical Hospital No. 5 in Kharkiv to undergo a treatment course in line with recommendations by doctors from the Beriln-based Charite clinic. The last time German doctors visited their patient in Kharkiv was on October 14.

A preliminary hearing on the Unified Energy Systems case took place without Tymoshenko on April 19. Since then, the court has several times postponed the start of the hearings as Tymoshenko refused to take part in them even in the form of a video conference, citing health reasons.