Tymoshenko has been in a state hospital since May

Tymoshenko has been in a state hospital since May , for back pains. Her health was also harmed, her family says, by an 18-day hunger strike she called off on November 16. Judge Kostyantyn Sadovsky postponed the trial again. "The court rules it impossible to consider the case in the absence of the accused, Tymoshenko, and her defense counsel. An adjournment is ordered until December 18," Sadovsky said, according to Interfax news agency on Friday. The abuse of office charge for which Tymoshenko was jailed stems from a gas deal she brokered with Russia in 2009 as prime minister. The new tax evasion and embezzlement charges relate to events in the 1990s when she ran a major gas trading company. The European Union has supported Tymoshenko, calling her case an example of selective justice, and shelved agreements on free trade and political association with Ukraine.