Jailed Former Ukraine PM Fined For Contempt Of Court

An Interior Ministry officer asks ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko (left) to be quiet during a session at the Pechera district court in Kyiv in October 2011.

A Kyiv court has fined jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko for contempt of court.

The judge at Kyiv's Pechera district court ruled on February 13 that Tymoshenko must pay the equivalent of $2,000 for her refusal to appear at a court hearing into the killing of a Ukrainian lawmaker 16 years ago.

Last month, Ukraine's prosecutor-general said Tymoshenko was a suspect in the murder of Yevhen Shcherban at an airport in eastern Ukraine in 1996.

Tymoshenko, who is serving a seven-year term for abuse of office, refused to acknowledge the accusation.

On February 12, a separate tax-evasion trial against Tymoshenko was postponed again after she did not show up in court.

Tymoshenko insists the charges against her are politically motivated.

Based on reporting by UNIAN and Interfax