MOSCOW, November 28 (RAPSI) - The Dzerzhinsky District Court of Kharkov held the first hearing of a criminal case to try Kachanovskaya Prison personnel. Kachanovskaya is where former prime minister of Ukraine, Yulia Tymoshenko, served her term between 2011 and 2014, Ukrinform reports Friday.

The agency reports that former chief of Kachanosvkaya Prison, Ihor Kolpashchikov, and two staff members were charged with abuse of power and fraud. Investigators allege that they drafted reports on Tymoshenko’s supposed refusal to attend a court hearing – specifically, a hearing of witnesses in the 1996 murder of businessman and member of Verkhovna Rada, Evhen Shcherban. The current indictment states that the reports were fabricated.

On October 11, 2011, the Pechyorsky District Court sentenced Tymoshenko to seven years for abuse of authority in signing gas contract between Naftogaz of Ukraine and Gazprom in 2009. On December 8, 2011, the Shevchenkovsky District Court of Kiev issued an arrest warrant for Tymoshenko in relation to her activity as a chief of United Energy Systems of Ukraine.

On February 22, 2014, the Ukrainian Parliament decriminalized the articles of the criminal code under which Tymoshenko was convicted and the ex-prime minister was released the same day.