KIEV, November 14 (Itar-Tass) —— Ukrainian Health Ministry specialists said there is no reason for transferring former Prime Minister Yulia Tnmoshenko from the investigation prison to hospital.
First Deputy Health Minister Raisa Moiseyenko said at a press conference on Monday, November 14, that the ministry had set up a commission, as ordered by Kiev’s Pechersky District Court, for examining Timoshenko in the investigation prison.
“On November 7 and 9 we watched the patient’s condition in order to make the diagnosis and give recommendations,” Moiseyenko said.
She noted that Timoshenko’s condition allowed the commission to recommend that she be given treatment at the investigation prison.
Moiseyenko refused to name the diagnosis because “the patient is against making it public”.
“She [Timoshenko] gets up, but at the same time she has been recommended to stay in bed. According to experts’ findings, there are no contraindications to investigative actions,” the official said.
Timoshenko’s her lawyer Sergei Vlasenko said last week that her condition had deteriorated and she could not move without help, “She came to the meeting with me today helped by investigation prison employees,” he said.
Vlasenko blamed the deterioration of Timoshenko’s health on the conditions of her incarceration.
He named specifically vertebrae problems. “She stays in bed practically all the time,” he added.
The medics who examined Timoshenko advised her to stay in bed and keep away from premises where the temperature of the air is below 14-15 degrees Celsius.
Vlasenko said it was quite cool at the investigation prison. “I got quite cold myself while waiting for Timoshenko at the meeting room,” the lawyer said.
He stressed that despite Timoshenko’s health problems, tax police investigators will try to carry out investigative actions on November 10. “Questioning at a time when a person cannot move on his own is tantamount to torture,” Vlasenko said.
The medics who examined Timoshenko found no health problems that could prevent the investigation of her case.
“Timoshenko’s health is being monitored by medical personnel of the Kiev investigation prison,” the press service of the State Penitentiary Service said earlier in the day.
Vlasenko said on November 7 that her condition had “deteriorated sharply”.
He tried to meet with Timoshenko, but the head of the investigation prison, where she is being held, said that “Yulia Vladimirovna cannot meet me because of a sharp pain in the vertebrae”.
“As a lawyer, I have been denied the opportunity to visit Timoshenko for the next several days,” Vlasenko said.
He noted that the investigation prison management had rejected his suggestion to organise his meetings with Timoshenko in the cell.
The penitentiary service said, “The ex-premier inadvertently provoked a deterioration of the pain syndrome in the lumbar part of spinal cord during a morning walk on November 5.”
Vlasenko said that the materials of the so-called “gas case” opened against Timoshenko should be transferred from Kiev’s Pechersky Court to the Court of Appeals before November 14.
He also said that the “tax service has resumed the investigation of four criminal cases concerning the operation of the United Energy Systems of Ukraine, which involve the former prime minister”.
Resolutions on the resumption of the investigation were delivered to Timoshenko on November 4.
Vlasenko believes that Timoshenko’s release depends on President Viktor Yanukovich’s decision.
“The ex-premier will celebrate New Year’s Day in at home only if the incumbent president wills so,” Vlasenko said.
“The ex-premier’s case is politically motivated. This is why the resolution of her question depends completely on one person -- Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich,” he said.
Vlasenko noted that there are “scores” of possibilities and mechanisms for releasing Timoshenko. One would be a verdict of the Court of Appeals “that will be one hundred percent coordinated with the president”.
Kiev’s Court of Appeals will convene on December 13 for a preliminary hearing on Timoshenko’s complaint challenging her verdict handed down by Kiev’s Pechersky Court that sentenced her to seven years in prison.
“According to the information received by the defence ... at the Pechersky Court, the appeal will be considered at 13:00 on December 13,” the lawyer said.
On October 25, Timoshenko and her lawyers filed a complaint against its verdict with the Pechersky District Court.
On October 11, Timoshenko was sentenced to seven years in prison for having acted in excess of her powers which had resulted in damage to the national interests of the country.
Timoshenko has also been barred from holding public positions for three years and has to pay a penalty of 189 million U.S. dollars in damages to Naftogaz Ukrainy.