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Timoshenko agrees to treatment at Kharkov hospital

Ex-Ukrainian Prime Minister is ready to start the treatment on May 8 on condition of the arrival of a Charite doctor recommended by the German side
Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS
Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS

KIEV, May 4 (Itar-Tass) —— Ex-Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko gave her preliminary consent to the treatment at the Kharkov Urkzheldorogi hospital at the Friday meeting with Charite Berlin doctors, Ukrainian First Deputy Health Minister Raisa Moiseyenko said.

In her words, Timoshenko is ready to start the treatment on May 8 on condition of the arrival of a Charite doctor recommended by the German side. “German and Ukrainian doctors had a detailed conversation with Timoshenko today. As a result, Timoshenko gave her preliminary consent to the treatment at the Urkzheldorogi hospital starting from May 8,” Moiseyenko said.

Timoshenko was admitted to the hospital on April 20 but went back to the penitentiary on April 22 due to her refusal to undergo a medical checkup.

Acting head of the Kharkov regional department of the Ukrainian State Penitentiary Service Yevgeny Barash said that three rooms had been assigned for Timoshenko on the 9th floor of the hospital: a hospital room with a bed, a wardrobe, a wall lamp, a wash basin, a toilet, an electric kettle, a water cooler and a plasma TV. There is also a dining room and a room for meeting with lawyers. The same floor has a plasmapheresis room and a remedial gymnastic room.

Timoshenko, serving a seven-year-term in Kharkov after the court sentenced her on October 11, 2011, for exceeding the authority in the signing of the gas contracts with Russia in 2009, went on a hunger strike on April 20 after personnel of the Kharkov penitentiary allegedly used force against her during the transfer to the hospital.

She said three people tried to pull her off the cot in the evening of April 20 for transporting her to the hospital. She also said she was beaten up to the loss of consciousness when she tried to resist.

Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka said they found no confirmation to the abuse and decided not to open a criminal cse.