Timoshenko asks court to postpone her questioning till Aug 22.

KIEV, August 18 (Itar-Tass) -- Ukraine's ex-Prime Minister and
opposition Batkivshchina party leader Yulia Timoshenko asked the court to
postpone her next questioning till August 22 and thus give her time to
prepare for it.
"For the time being I am not prepared to testify and request time, at
least two days, to prepare. I will testify on Monday," Timoshenko said at
Kiev's Pechersky Court on Wednesday, August 17.
The court does not work on weekends.
However Presiding Judge Rodion Kireyev regarded Timoshenko's request
was her refusal to testify and adjourned the hearings till 15:00 Moscow
time, Thursday, August 18.
Timoshenko is facing charges of abuse of office while making gas
agreements with Russia in 2009.
The prosecution has accused Timoshenko of acting in excess of his
powers and giving directives for signing a gas contract with Russia in
2009 without the government's consent. As a result, gas prices in Ukraine
increased, but the tariff for transit, pegged to the price of gas, did not
change, which caused damage to the budget in the amount of about 200
million U.S. dollars.
The criminal case was opened against Timoshenko for the gas contracts
in accordance with part 3 of Article 365 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code,
which gives the maximum punishment of seven to ten years in prison.