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Ukrainian ministry to set up team of experts for examining Timoshenko

The State Penitentiary Service said the decision to undergo treatment at the hospital had been taken by Timoshenko herself

KIEV, April 23 (Itar-Tass) —— The Ukrainian Health Ministry will create a group of experts for examining former Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko in order to determine whether she can attend court hearings on the case of the Unified Energy Systems of Ukraine (UESU), in which she has been incriminated, First Deputy Health Minister Raisa Moiseyenko said on Monday, April 23.

“There is a request from the Prosecutor General’s Office to the Health Ministry. A group of medical experts will be created by all means,” Moiseyenko said, adding that “it will be extremely hard [for the group to do its job] because she does not allow herself to be examined”.

Timoshenko’s lawyer, MP Sergei Vlasenko said that before the court hearings slated for April 28 he would provide the court with the findings of the German physicians who examined his defendant, in which they claimed that Timoshenko’s condition does not allow her to attend the trial.

Zurab Malazonia, Deputy Head of the Health and Sanitary Department of the State Penitentiary Service, said that Timoshenko’s condition has not deteriorated, she gets up and walks with the walking aid.

On Sunday, April 22, Timoshenko was transferred from Kharkov’s railway hospital back to the penal colony where she is serving her 7-year term for abuse of power when signing a gas agreement with Russia in 2009.

Moiseyenko said Timoshenko was transferred back to the colony after she had refused to undergo medical examination again.

Timoshenko was transferred to Kharkov's Central Clinical Hospital of Ukrainian Railways for treatment late on Friday, April 20. The State Penitentiary Service said the decision to undergo treatment at the hospital had been taken by Timoshenko herself.

After studying the conclusions made by the German physicians who had evaluated the hospital, Timoshenko agreed to start the course of treatment advised to her by specialists.

Timoshenko has been demanding for a month that she be examined by a physician she can trust - Ukrainian spinal column specialist Nikolai Polishchuk. “But we are told that this is not advisable,” the lawyer 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. Her lawyers claim that her condition was worsening despite medical treatment.

Timoshenko mistrusts Ukrainian medics and rejected their help. She insists that she be examined by independent medics.

In late December 2011, Timoshenko was transferred from the investigation prison to a correctional facility in the eastern Kharkov region.

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