Ukraine's high court on Wednesday postponed the appeal of jailed ex-premier Yulia Tymoshenko against her seven-year sentence for abuse of power for a third time on request of the prosecution.
Judge Stanislav Mishchenko said the next hearing will be held on August 16 at 10 am (0700 GMT) and demanded to see records of the hospitalised opposition leader's true health condition before proceeding with the case.
The court's previous two delays of the hearing disappointed Tymoshenko attorneys who want the case to go before the European Court of Human Rights once all legal avenues are exhausted in Ukraine.
Tymoshenko did not attend the hearing because she is being treated in a Ukrainian state hospital for debilitating back pains she began experiencing shortly after her October conviction over a disputed gas deal with Russia.
The defence team -- expecting the judge to uphold the sentence -- had asked the court to review the case without Tymoshenko so it could then file papers with the Strasbourg court.
But the judge had ordered to see a medical review of Tymoshenko's condition when postponing the last hearing in June and said on Wednesday he had still not received any medical evidence about her true state of health.
The 51-year-old former Orange Revolution leaders has refused to be either treated or touched by Ukrainian doctors as both a form of protests and alleged fears of being contaminated with a fatal disease.
The back pain have also kept Tymoshenko from attending a new tax case launched by prosecutors since her conviction that could also double her time in prison.