KIEV, July 18 — Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s key lawyer on Monday was expelled from the court for the rest of the trial after engaging in a brief dispute with the judge.

Serhiy Vlasenko was ejected from the court by Judge Rodion Kireyev after the lawyer had accused the judge of violating court procedure, and had refused to sit down.

The development is a setback for Tymoshenko as Vlasenko has been the key figure behind her defense in the case over signing the controversial natural gas agreement with Russia in January 2009.

“I am not allowed to defend myself in this process: my defense [lawyer] that is familiar with the case has been expelled,” Tymoshenko said after the court hearing.

Meanwhile, the judge allowed on Monday two new lawyers, Mykola Siriy and Oleksandr Plakhotniuk, to join Tymoshenko’s defense team, and had given them three days to familiarize themselves with the case. The next court hearing was set on Friday.

Tymoshenko’s critics, however, said that the development may be indicating her new defense strategy of using every opportunity for delaying the court hearings, and the verdict.

Both, prosecutors and the judge have been so far rushing the case by imposing limits on the time needed for Tymoshenko and her defense team to familiarize themselves with the case.

The speedy trial and the verdict is thought to benefit Tymoshenko’s political opponents, while lengthy hearings and deliberations would benefit the opposition leader as it would come just ahead of the October 2012 parliamentary elections.

Olena Bondarenko, a pro-government lawmaker, said it was part of this strategy that Tymoshenko had applied to approve the two new lawyers to her defense team on Monday.

“The defense is making everything possible to prevent any serious attitude towards the trial,” Bondarenklo said in an interview with Channel 5 late Monday. “They want this to look like a farce, a show, a spectacle, whatever.”

This strategy may actually work for Tymoshenko, who has already accused the judge – and the authorities - of implementing a politically motivated persecution of the opposition leader.

Ukraine’s criminal law allows a defendant to replace lawyers unlimited number of times in the course of the case and that can potentially postpone the trial indefinitely.

“If you change your lawyers every week as suits then the defense team will never have enough time to study the case,” Bondarenko said. “That’s why the defendant is making fun. This week she got one lawyer, the next week she will have another one.”

“I believe this is done to delay the case,” Bondarenko said, in order to “make sure that the case continues endlessly.”

“Perhaps, this is the strategy to continue the case through the elections and after that to say that ‘I got the lawmaker immunity,” Bondarenko said. (tl/ez)