KIEV, January 3 (Itar-Tass) —— Daughter of ex-Ukrainian Prime Minister, Batkivshchyna Party leader Yulia Timoshenko Yevgenia has been denied the possibility to meet her mother at the 54th penitentiary in Kharkov.
“I was not let in although I had a court order to the effect. Being her defense, I visited her every day at the Kiev detention ward. I was denied entry for an unknown reason today and sent back to Kiev for seeking permission of a detective,” Yevgenia said. “I had to go back to the capital city and sought a meeting with the detective, who did not answer my telephone calls.”
“I am unaware of the condition of my mother and the terms of her custody. I was unable to congratulate her on the New Year and to ask how she was doing. This situation is absolutely outrageous and illegal,” she said.
Lawyer Sergei Vlasenko had a chance to meet with Timoshenko at the Kharkov penitentiary on Tuesday.
He said the defense would appeal her transfer from the Kiev detention ward to the 54th penitentiary in Kharkov.
“We are drafting the appeal and will lodge it today or tomorrow. It could be either an administrative claim or a statement on the non-fulfillment of the resolution of the Shevchenkovsky District Court, which clearly said that Timoshenko must stay at the Kiev detention ward,” the lawyer said.
“The ex-premier was transferred to the penitentiary for isolating her from people, from support and from the media,” he said.
In his words, the health of Timoshenko has not improved. “She is not given medical aid. Analgesic injections are given to her from time to time, but the injections cause subcutaneous bleeding. We do not know the cause of the subcutaneous bleeding, and we will insist on a blood test done by an independent laboratory,” he said.
The lawyer noted that they would convey the information to the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture.
Timoshenko was transferred to the 54th penitentiary in Kharkov shortly before the New Year.
Penitentiary warden Ivan Pervushkin said that Timoshenko would share a 37-square-meter cell with another woman, who was transferred to the penitentiary a short time ago.
The penitentiary has workshops making clothes, polypropylene bags and wooden and concrete items. Its reconstruction began in 2006 to meet the European standards. Now the penitentiary has a club for 420 inmates, outdoor and indoor gyms, a school and a vocational training center.
Vlasenko said earlier that 900 women are serving their time at the penitentiary. There are 14 inmates in the penitentiary’s block for serving lifetime sentences.
The Kiev Appeals Court upheld the ruling of the Kiev Pechersky Court on December 23. The Kiev Pechersky District Court sentenced Timoshenko on October 11 to seven years in prison for exceeding her authority in the signing of the gas contracts with Russia in 2009. She was also compelled to pay 1.51 billion hryvni (almost $200 million) to Neftegaz Ukrainy.
A new case against Timoshenko was initiated on October 12. Detectives said that Timoshenko, while being the president of the United Energy Systems of Ukraine private corporation, under conspiracy with other former Prime Minister Pavel Lazarenko wrote off the corporation’s debt to the Russian Defense Ministry worth $405,500,000 to the state budget of Ukraine. The Russian Defense Ministry sent a letter to Ukraine demanding the payment of the debt. Timoshenko chaired the corporation in 1995-1997. She said in June 2011 that there were no debts to the Russian Defense Ministry.
On November 11 the Ukrainian State Tax Service charged ex-CEO of the Unified Energy Systems of Ukraine Corporation Timoshenko with concealing $165 million revenues, embezzling public funds and dodging over 47 million hryvni (about $6 million) in taxes.
The Timoshenko case caused harsh comments from Europe.
Catherine Ashton, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, speaking on behalf of the Commission, said: “The verdict comes after a trial which did not respect the international standards as regards fair, transparent and independent legal process which I repeatedly called for in my previous statements. This unfortunately confirms that justice is being applied selectively in politically motivated prosecutions of the leaders of the opposition and members of the former government.”
The European Parliament deplored the conviction of Timoshenko as a violation of human rights and an abuse of the judiciary designed to silence Ukraine’s leading opposition politician.