KIEV, March 12 (Itar-Tass) —— Former Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko, who is serving her term at the Kachanivska colony in Kharkov, has refused to study the final recommendations given to her by German and Ukrainian medics.
“Based on the results of the working meeting of the members of the international medical commission for the examination of Timoshenko, specifically German and Ukrainian medics, which took place on March 7, final recommendations were worked out for further therapeutic treatment of the convict. On March 12, these recommendations were handed over to Timoshenko personally. She refused to sign [the form] that she has studied the document,” the State Penitentiary Service said.
The medics recommended medical treatment coupled with physiotherapeutic and rehabilitation procedures. The penal colony has all the necessary conditions for that, the service said.
The recommendations also determine a circle of highly qualified medics each of which is responsible for a concrete aspect of Timoshenko’s treatment.
Foreign medics examined Timoshenko in mid-February. The Prosecutor General's Office said earlier in the day that German and Canadian medics examined Timoshenko for five hours at Kachanivska Penal Colony No. 54 where Timoshenko is serving her prison term in the presence of Ukrainian specialists from the international medical group. The German medics completed the examination and left, having placed their findings in a sealed envelope.
“After the end of the examination Timoshenko will be familiarised with the German medics' findings contained in a sealed envelopes, which will confirm the independent work of the international medical group,” the Prosecutor General's Office said.
Timoshenko fell ill on August 18, 2011, two weeks after her arrest. Her lawyers say that she “has been in bed for about four months”.
Medics believe that Timoshenko has discal hernia. She has been complaining about pains in the back.
On October 11, 2011, Kiev's Pechersky District Court sentenced Yulia Timoshenko to seven years in prison and upheld Naftogaz Ukrainy's lawsuit seeking compensation of 1.516 billion hryvnia (189.5 million U.S. dollars) for damage sustained by the company as a result of the gas contracts signed with Russia in 2009.
On October 11, 2011, 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.
In late December 2011, Timoshenko was transferred from the investigation prison to a penal colony in the eastern Kharkov region.