Ukraine's Penitentiary Service To Investigate Controversial Tymoshenko Video

Supporters of Yulia Tymoshenko protest for her release in central Kyiv.

Ukraine's State Penitentiary Service has said that it will investigate a new video depicting a woman who looks like jailed former Prime Minster Yulia Tymoshenko.

The video, showing a woman doing physical exercises in a hospital room, circulated on the Internet on October 16.

On October 15, a court in the eastern city of Kharkiv postponed for the ninth time Tymoshenko's tax evasion trial after she did not show up in the courtroom saying she is not able to move because of back pain.

Tymoshenko is already serving a seven-year sentence over a separate abuse of power case.

She insists the cases against her are politically motivated.

Representatives of her Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) party said the video was a provocation and demanded thorough investigations into its appearance in the Internet.

Based on reporting by UNIAN and Interfax