KIEV, May 13 - Three weeks after it was suspended, Ukrainian prosecutors have reopened an investigation into a 1996 murder they allege involves jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

The investigation was reopened as prosecutors plan to question Petro Kyrychenko, a witness. Kyrychenko, an aide to former prime minister Pavlo Lazarenko, lives in the U.S. and will be questioned on May 15 via a video link with prosecutors in Ukraine.

Tymoshenko, then the head of gas trader United Energy Systems, and Lazarenko are alleged to have paid $2.8 million for the killing of lawmaker and businessman Yevhen Shcherban and his wife in 1996.

Tymoshenko denied the allegations as politically motivated.

Tymoshenko was sentenced to seven years in prison in October 2011 for abusing power while negotiating and signing a controversial 10-year natural gas agreement with Russia in January 2009.

The agreement saddled Ukraine with extremely high gas prices, according to Prime Minister Mykola Azarov.

The European Union sees the jailing and prosecution of Tymoshenko as politically motivated case of selected justice.

The continued imprisonment of Tymoshenko may derail signing of a political association and free trade agreements between Ukraine and the EU at a planned summit in November.

The prosecutors suspended investigation into the murder case on April 26, apparently to comply with legislation that gives prosecutors two months to finish the investigation before the case is submitted to court.

Prosecutors suspended the case waiting for permission from law enforcement agencies of other countries to grant them permission and access to other witnesses in the case tat currently live overseas.

To save time prosecutors may again suspend the investigation after Kyrychenko is questioned on May 15.

Serhiy Vlasenko, Tymoshenko’s lawyer, said the suspending and reopening of the case shows it is politically motivated.

“This decision is the proof that the case has a political nature,” Vlasenko said. “It proves that it has nothing to do with law.” (tl/ez)