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Ukraine’s Yulia Timoshenko bloc continues to paralyze parliament

To express her protest Timoshenko has went on hunger strike since April 20

KIEV, April 25 (Itar-Tass) — Ukraine’s opposition parliamentarians continue to block the parliament’s work.

“We plan to block the parliament’s work until we have our parliamentarians allowed to visit Yulia Timoshenko. We are waiting for the report of a prosecutor and penitentiary officials,” an MP from the Yulia Timoshenko bloc, Andrei Shevchenko, told reporters on Wednesday.

On Tuesday opposition parliamentarians blocked the Verkhovna Rada after the information on alleged beating of former prime minister Yulia Timoshenko, who is serving a seven year prison sentence for abuse of power during gas negotiations with Russia, emerged.

In her letter Timoshenko wrote that she was taken to a hospital by three prison guards by force. They pulled her from the bed and when she began to defend herself she received a punch in the stomach and passed out.

To express her protest Timoshenko has went on hunger strike since April 20. Her lawyer Sergei Vlasenko said he saw bruises on her stomach area and hands.

“Timoshenko’s hunger strike demonstrates her protest against what is going on in the country and what is going on personally with her in prison Vlasenko said.

The state penitentiary service denies this information.