Neither the lawyers nor the co-defendants could identify the nature of his ailment and provide any confirmation documents. It was later confirmed that Uspaskich is suspected to have suffered a heart attack.
Remigijus Žaliūnas, chief of the Cardiology Clinic of Lithuanian Health Sciences University in Kaunas, has confirmed to 15min that Uspaskich was admitted to the clinic in the early hours on Tuesday.
"With the patient's consent, I can inform you that he [Uspaskich] is now in the Cardiology Clinic. We are running tests in order to confirm or rule out acute myocardial infarction," he told 15min.
According to Žaliūnas, tests might take up to a few days, during which Uspaskich is to stay hospitalized.
Earlier in the day, his lawyer told journalists Uspaskich did not show up in court on Tuesday, and he would usually arrive before 9 AM. Sviderskis tried contacting his client several times, in vain. He later contacted Uspaskich's driver and learnt that an ambulance took Uspaskich to hospital early on Tuesday morning.
The news was also confirmed by co-defendant in the case, Labor MP Vytautas Gapšys. The party leader could not take part in a TV show on Monday due to his health problems, he said.
The court was adjourned until Wednesday and ordered the defense to provide necessary documents.
"The lawyer did not say anything specific and did not specify either the hospital or the ailment, and did not also provide documents. I therefore proposed to the court to adjourn the hearing to at least find out everything. The court was adjourned until tomorrow. An ailment is a common reason for not showing up at hairings, and not only in this process. And the fact that the whereabouts [of Uspaskich] and the ailment are unknown, is not common," prosecutor Saulius Verseckas of the Prosecutor General's Office told journalists.
The Labor Party is charged with bookkeeping fraud. According to prosecution, it failed to include more than 24 million litas (EUR 6.9m) in income and 23 million litas in spending into its books in the 2004-2006.
Uspaskich, the Labor Party's leader, Deputy Speaker of the Seimas Vytautas Gapšys and MP Vitalija Vonžutaitė are currently standing trial for organizing fraudulent bookkeeping while holding top positions at the Labor Party's Vilnius bureau in 2004-2006. In addition to the three parliamentarians, charges in the case have been brought against the party as a legal entity and its former financial officer Marina Liutkevičienė.
The Labor Party's members strongly deny the accusations, saying the case is politically-motivated.
Gapšys and Liutkevičienė were expected to testify on Tuesday. Uspaskich had said he would give testimony on Tuesday as well, although he refused to do so on Monday, voicing his no-confidence in the court. Meanwhile Vonžutaitė has refused to testify.
The hearing cannot continue without all defendants present.
The case reached court on April 14, 2008.
