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Tymoshenko trial moves to next phase

Ukraine's former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is under investigation for a natural gas deal she helped broker with Russian energy company Gazprom. (UPI Photo/Mykola Lazarenko/HO)
Ukraine's former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is under investigation for a natural gas deal she helped broker with Russian energy company Gazprom. (UPI Photo/Mykola Lazarenko/HO) | License Photo

KIEV, Ukraine, Sept. 9 (UPI) -- The judicial investigation in the trial against former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is completed and the court now moves to debates, a judge said.

Tymoshenko is under investigation for a 2009 natural gas deal she helped broker with Russian energy company Gazprom. Moscow halted gas deliveries over payment disputes and Tymoshenko's deal helped with the resumption of gas supplies.

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The current government in Ukraine, however, said the deal resulted in significant economic loss for the country.

The court announced Friday it was finished with the judicial examination stage and adjourned until Monday.

"The court has considered all the motions submitted through the court office. The court announces the judicial investigation over," Judge Rodion Kireyev was quoted by Tymoshenko's Web site as saying. "The court will now move to court debates."

She faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted on all charges. She denied the allegations made against her and European and U.S. officials have said the charges appear to be politically motivated.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, seen as a Kremlin ally, accuses her of corruption in relation to the deal. She lost a bruising campaign for president to Yanukovych in 2010.

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Russia's state-run news agency RIA Novosti quoted Tymoshenko as telling the judge he was "obliged" to deliver a guilty verdict by next week.

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