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Tymoshenko to get care abroad?

April 2, 2012

Ukraine's prosecutor general has given jailed opposition politician Yulia Tymoshenko permission to get outside medical care for a back condition. Germany is in talks with Ukraine for her to get that care in Berlin.

https://p.dw.com/p/14WcI
Yulia Tymoshenko escorted by police during a trial hearing
Image: dpad

Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka said on Monday that Tymoshenko could get care from "a specialized medical facility" outside the Kharkiv penitentiary where she is being held, because she could not get adequate treatment there.

The former premier and rival to President Viktor Yanukovych was sentenced in October 2011 to seven years in prison for abusing her power as prime minister during negotiations with Russia over a natural gas supply contract. Tymoshenko said the trial was an attempt to silence the opposition.

It was expected the 51-year-old would be treated at a Ukrainian hospital, however, the German government confirmed it is in talks to have Tymoshenko brought to Berlin.

"We … hope that the talks with the government of Ukraine make medical treatment [in Germany] possible," said Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert in Berlin on Monday.

Lack of confidence in Ukraine

Two doctors from Berlin's Charite hospital examined Tymoshenko in February and determined she was in intense pain and could not get the care she needed in prison.

In mid-March Tymoshenko rejected getting treatment in prison and asked to be able to get care at the Charite.

The prison authorities had for months contested Tymoshenko's claims that she needed medical attention.

Her lawyer, Serhiy Vlasenko, was skeptical that she can get the care she needs in Ukraine. He said that she would only agree to be treated in Ukraine if the German doctors approved the treatment, and it was carried out by independent Ukrainian doctors.

"How can you trust a system that for half a year has been saying that she is healthy?" he said. "What kind of clinic will they choose? It makes no sense."

Tymoshenko's case has driven a wedge between Ukraine and the European Union, which is concerned about both the way the pro-Western former premier has been treated since she fell from power and by the state of democracy in the country.

ncy/acb (AP, AFP, dpa)