KIEV, September 27 - RAPSI. A Kiev court rejected on Tuesday Yulia Tymoshenko's request to return the "gas case" to the judicial examination stage of her trial, RIA Novosti reports.

The court has thus started to hear the parties' arguments.

The Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office has charged Tymoshenko with abuse of power in connection with her approval of a Russian gas contract in 2009, when she served as prime minister.

Tymoshenko was arrested on August 5.