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Ukrainian ex-prime minister Yulia Timoshenko is in grave condition – parliamentarian

Three female parliamentarians tried to join Timoshenko’s action of protest in clinic

KIEV, January 18 (Itar-Tass) — Ukrainian opposition leader, ex-prime minister Yulia Timoshenko, who undergoes medical treatment in a clinic of Ukrainian Railways in Kharkov, is in a grave condition, parliamentarian Alexandra Kuzhel told reporters on Friday.

Kuzhel and two more female parliamentarians tried to join Timoshenko’s action of protest in that clinic earlier on Friday.

“Yulia Vladimirovna is in a very grave condition, she cannot step on her right foot. The pain is unbearable,” she said adding that Timoshenko receives painkillers twice a day.

She said about 50 policemen are now on the flight of stairs leading to the ninth floor where Timoshenko’s ward is. She fears that an attempt will be made “to bring her to a court session by force” today.

The Kiev district court continues on Friday considering a second criminal case against Timoshenko, in which the former prime minister is accused of misappropriating public funds in the second half of the 1990s during her time as head of the biggest at the time United Energy Systems of Ukraine Corporation.

Court proceedings in the case began back in April 2012, but Timoshenko has not attended any of court sessions since then, refusing to participate for health reasons.

At the present time the former Ukrainian prime minister serves her 7-year term in the Kachanov penal colony in Kharkov for an abuse of power in the signing of a gas agreement with Russia in 2009. She currently undergoes medical treatment at the clinic of Ukrainian Railways in Kharkov.

Timoshenko, sentenced to seven years in prison, last week declared a personal civil disobedience action. Timoshenko said in an open letter then that from that moment on she refused to speak to prosecutors and investigators. “From this day on I will not meet them a single time or give explanations,” the politician wrote.

She also refused to voluntarily appear in court which she dubbed “inquisitional”. “They will have to deliver me in court with the use of excessive physical force,” she said, stressing that she would resist with all the strength she could muster.

The ex-prime minister said she would not allow any longer to search her or her belongings and would not return to her ward at the clinical hospital of Ukrainian Railways until CCTVs and guards were removed from there.

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