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Timoshenko’s health condition sharply deteriorates – lawyer

She has a fever with body temperature of about 38 degrees Celsius

KIEV, September 15 (Itar-Tass) —— The health condition of Ukraine’s former Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko, who is standing trial on office abuse charges, has seriously deteriorated, Timoshenko’s lawyer Sergei Vlasenko said on Thursday.

“The health condition of a person who is currently being held in a detention ward for no apparent reason, I mean Yulia Timoshenko, drastically deteriorated yesterday. She has a fever with body temperature of about 38 degrees Celsius. And despite this fact, she is offered no medical aid,” he said and added that the symptoms indicate Timoshenko might have a sore throat.

Earlier, Timoshenko repeatedly asked the court to let her personal doctor examine her health but the court rejected each time. The Ukrainian health ministry however said it had sent its doctors to the prison to examine Timoshenko more than once and they said her health condition was satisfactory. The ministry also said Timoshenko rejected health examinations several times.

Timoshenko and her lawyers claimed such examinations were purely “visual” and were highly unlikely to yield any diagnosis. So they kept on to insist that a personal doctor be allowed to make a detailed examination and do tests.

Ex-prime minister Yulia Timoshenko is facing charges of abuse of office while concluding gas agreements with Russia in 2009. The prosecution accuses Timoshenko of acting in excess of her powers and giving directives for signing a gas contract with Russia in 2009 without the government’s consent. As a result, gas prices in Ukraine increased, but the tariff for transit, pegged to the price of gas, did not change, which caused damage to the budget in the amount of about 200 million U.S. dollars. She has been under arrest since August 5.

The trial was adjourned till September 27 to give time to parties to get prepared for debates.