KIEV, September 21 - RAPSI. The ex-prime minister's defense repeatedly appealed on Wednesday for a return to the judicial examination stage of her trial, her defense attorney Oleksandr Plakhotnyuk said.

The court has declared the judicial examination completed and started to hear the parties' arguments. The next hearing is scheduled for September 27.

Plakhotnyuk also said the appeal was based on the need to immediately consider the request to change the measure of restrictions against Yulia Tymoshenko.

He observed that her attorneys believe that there are no grounds for keeping Tymoshenko behind bars since "it is obvious to everybody that her actions do not qualify a crime."

According to Plakhotnyuk, her further stay in custody is a threat to her health. He noted that a young woman recently died of tuberculosis in the same pretrial detention center and the conditions there suggest the probability of being infected with the same disease.

The Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office has charged Tymoshenko with abuse of power in approving a gas supply contract between the Russian Gazprom and Ukrainian Naftogaz in 2009, while she was serving as prime minister. She was arrested on August 5.