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Opposition blocking work of Ukraine parliament over Timoshenko

The leaders of two opposition factions signed a joint statement addressed to Prosecutor-General, demanding that these deputies be allowed into the colony

KIEV, April 24 (Itar-Tass) — Deputies of Ukraine’s parliament from the Yulia Timoshenko opposition bloc will continue blocking the rostrum of the Supreme Rada on Wednesday, Andrei Kozhemyakin, the head of the bloc’s faction, told reporters on Tuesday.

“We will continue blocking [the rostrum] since we failed to persuade the parliamentary majority to fulfill the demand to let medics among deputies to visit the Kachanovskaya penal colony in Kharkov where ex-premier Yulia Timoshenko serves her term,” he said.

The MP said the leaders of two opposition factions signed a joint statement addressed to Prosecutor-General Viktor Pshonka, demanding that these deputies be allowed into the colony.

“We demand that Tatiana Bakhteyeva, as the chairperson of the parliamentary committee on medicine, should support our address to the prosecutor and should visit the Kachanovskaya colony to see if Timoshenko had bodily injuries, of which her lawyer spoke,” Kozhemyakin said. “The opposition will continue blocking the rostrum until these demands are met,” he added. The MP said the Yulia Timoshenko Bloc also insists that Pshonka should give explanations to the Supreme Rada as to the possibility of Timoshenko having been beaten when being transferred from the colony to a hospital.

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