Anatoly Kucherena said: "This decision was taken by Rokhlina herself. She has had three minor strokes, and for health reasons will not in the future be able to take part in the court proceedings. For us the most important thing is that she is not in prison."
The Moscow Region Court had scheduled a hearing of Rokhlina's appeal against the sentence for January 27.
On November 16, 2000, Tamara Rokhlina was given an eight-year prison sentence after being convicted for killing her husband.
The Moscow Regional Court commuted the sentence to four years. In the summer of 2001, the Russian Supreme Court granted an appeal and quashed the guilty verdict. The Supreme Court sent Rokhlina's case for a retrial and the defendant was released from custody.
The retrial began on December 3, 2001, but was suspended on November 15, 2002 for a medical examination of Rokhlina.
General Rokhlin, head of the Movement in Support of the Army, an organization seeking to resolve long-standing problems faced by the military, was shot in the head on July 2, 1998 at his dacha.
The defendant maintains her innocence and claims that three masked strangers killed her husband.
Earlier, Tamara Rokhlina won a case against the Russian government in the European Court of Human Rights. The Strasbourg Court ruled that the European Convention on Human Rights insists on the right to a swift trial and the right of defendants to remain at liberty during the legal process. The court said there were "insufficient grounds" to justify imprisoning Rokhlina during her trial and court ruled that the Russian government should pay Rokhlina 8,000 euros in damages.
