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PACE representatives visit former Ukrainian premier at hospital

The PACE group is going to present its position at a news conference Thursday

KIEV, May 16 (Itar-Tass) —— Respresentatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe /PACE/ on Wednesday visited Ukraine's former Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko at a railway hospital in the northeast city of Kharkov where she is getting a course of medical treatment.

Timoshenko, whom a court in Kiev found guilty of abusing occupational powers while of the post of Prime Minister in 2009, is serving a seven-year jail term at a general colony in Kharkov. A course of treatment has been set up for her upon a recommendation of an international team of medics that consulted her earlier this year.

According to a report aired by Ukrainian television, Timoshenko and the PACE visitors "discussed the conditions, in which she is getting treatment, and the state of her health."

The PACE group is going to present its position at a news conference Thursday upon completion of the visit to Ukraine.

European Parliament President Martin Schulz said earlier the European side is going to dispatch its own doctors to Ukraine so that they could throw their shoulder into Timoshenko's treatment.

Earlier, readiness to organize a course of treatment for the former Prime Minister was expressed by politicians and public figures in Germany.They named the Charite clinic in Berlin as the institution that would be entrusted with the job.

MP Taras Chornovil told reporters Wednesday the Verkhovna Rada, the national parliament is working speedily on a bill that would allow Timoshenko to get medical treatment outside Ukraine if need be.

"Theoretically speaking, if someone has interest in this, the issue has been settled and the bill may be considered as early as Thursday, May 17," he said.

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