Yulia Tymoshenko faces new Ukraine tax evasion trial
She is refusing to attend the trial for health reasons. She is already serving a seven-year jail sentence for abuse of office.
On Friday photos emerged of alleged injuries Ms Tymoshenko said she received while in prison last week, Kazinform refers to BBC.
Ukraine's opposition says three men punched her in the stomach, but the authorities have denied the allegation.
The first trial was condemned by Western governments as politically motivated.
Ms Tymoshenko did not attend preliminary hearings for the new trial held a week ago, citing health problems. The charges relate to her time at the head of a private energy company in the 1990s.
Her political party says she has asked the court to adjourn the proceedings because of her health, Reuters news agency reports.
If found guilty she could face another 12 years in prison.
Her current jail sentence came after she was found guilty of alleged tax evasion in the same period - she denies any wrongdoing.
Ms Tymoshenko, who accuses President Viktor Yanukovych, a political rival, of seeking revenge, is said to have begun a hunger strike last Friday.
The images show Ms Tymoshenko, 51, displaying what appear to be bruises and grazes on the skin of her stomach and her arm.
Ukrainian websites which published the pictures said they had been distributed to EU diplomats by the Ukrainian parliament's human rights commissioner, Nina Karpachova.
They said the photographs were taken on Wednesday, five days after the attack allegedly happened as Ms Tymoshenko was being transferred to a hospital.
Full version
