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Protasiewicz notes comfortable conditions for Timoshenko’s treatment

He noted that Timoshenko does not need additional medical attention

KHARKOV, May 19 (Itar-Tass) —— European Parliament Vice President Jacek Protasiewicz, who visited former Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko in a Kharkov hospital on Saturday, May 19, noted comfortable conditions at the facility.

“The European Parliament member expressed gratitude for the opportunity to meet Timoshenko personally and without restrictions,” the Ukrainian State Penitentiary Service head’s aide Igor Andrushko said.

Protasiewicz noted “comfortable conditions created at the hospital that meet European standards”, the Penitentiary Service said.

He noted that Timoshenko does not need additional medical attention and she is satisfied with the course of treatment prescribed to her by German Charite Clinic Doctor Lutz Harms.

At the same time, Protasiewicz took notice of Timoshenko’s grave psychological and emotional condition.

He offered assistance during court hearings on Timoshenko’s cassation appeal in her criminal case, and she did not object but expressed the wish that this should be a well-known European politician, independent and impartial, whose authority is beyond doubt.

Protasiewicz met with Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka in Kiev on Friday, May 18, to hear his views on “high- profile cases under investigation in Ukraine”.

The European Parliament vice president spent three hours with Timoshenko and left in a car without stopping at a group of reporters and Timoshenko’s supporters who were waiting nearby.

European Parliament President Martin Schulz said earlier that an agreement had been reached with the Ukrainian authorities that a group of European medical experts and physicians would go to Kharkov to assess Timoshenko’s condition and medical treatment.

Since May 9, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite, U.S. Ambassador in Kiev John Tefft, Thomas O. Melia, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labour, and PACE officials have visited Timoshenko at the hospital.

On Friday, May 18, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich said the question of Timoshenko’s medical treatment abroad would be solved in accordance with effective Ukrainian laws. “There must be appropriate decisions within the law” for Timoshenko to be able to go abroad for medical treatment, he said.

The Prosecutor General’s Office said earlier that medical care abroad for convicts was not allowed by law.

Timoshenko is now taking a course of treatment at Kharkov's railway hospital under the supervision of Lutz Harms of the German Charite Clinic.

She fell ill on August 18, 2011, two weeks after her arrest. Her lawyers say that she “has been in bed for about four months”.

Physicians 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.