Ukraine's imprisoned former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has submitted another statement on her refusal to attend a session of Kyivsky District Court in Kharkiv on the UESU case on November 23, the press office of the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine reported on Thursday.

"The prisoner noted that she is currently undergoing rehabilitation procedures in a medical facility, therefore she is refusing to participate in the hearing," the service said.

The leadership of the Kachanivska penal colony reported this statement to the court.

In addition, the press service added that on November 21, Tymoshenko had been granted exceptional permission to talk to two persons by phone for an hour.

Tymoshenko is faces five charges in the case – organizing the appropriation of public funds in an especially large amount in 1997-1998 via illicitly receiving of value added tax (VAT) (Part 3 of Article 27, Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), attempting to appropriate public funds in an especially large amount in 1997-1998 via illicitly receiving VAT (Part 3 of Article 27, Part 2 of Article 15, Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code), tax evasion by the UESU Corporation (Part 3 of Article 27, Part 3 of Article 212 of the Criminal Code), the non-payment of income tax (Part 3 of Article 212 of the Criminal Code), and committing a crime via official forgery (Part 3 of Article 27, Part 2 of Article 366 of the Criminal Code).

A preliminary hearing of the case was held on April 19, 2012 in the absence of Tymoshenko. Since then, the court has been putting off hearings due to the fact that Tymoshenko kept refusing to attend the hearings due to her state of health.

On October 11, 2011, Pechersky District Court in Kyiv sentenced Tymoshenko to seven years in prison for abuse of office in signing gas contracts with Russia in 2009. She has served her sentence in Kachanivska Penal Colony in Kharkiv since late December 2011.