The Ukrainian Prosecutor-General's Office has decided to permit jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko to receive medical treatment outside of prison.
Last month, German and Canadian doctors who examined Tymoshenko at the Kachaniv labor camp near the eastern city of Kharkiv, where she is serving a seven-year jail term for abuse of office, said she urgently needed specialized treatment.
However, Tymoshenko's lawyer, Sergei Vlasenko, said the latest decision was aimed at silencing European critics of Tymoshenko's prison term.
"I don't think the Ukrainian Railway hospital is a specialized medical institution which specializes in back problems and in difficult operations," Vlasenko said. "The German doctors have identified with absolute clarity that Tymoshenko's treatment is difficult and multifunctional. I think that, in this case, this is another attempt to pull the wool over Europe's eyes and show that, supposedly, we are implementing the decision of the European Court."
Tymoshenko, who says she is a victim of political persecution, has said that the doctors she has been permitted to see in prison have failed to provide her with proper care.
The European Court of Human Rights in March called on Ukraine's government to ensure that Tymoshenko receives "adequate medical treatment in an appropriate institution."
Last month, German and Canadian doctors who examined Tymoshenko at the Kachaniv labor camp near the eastern city of Kharkiv, where she is serving a seven-year jail term for abuse of office, said she urgently needed specialized treatment.
However, Tymoshenko's lawyer, Sergei Vlasenko, said the latest decision was aimed at silencing European critics of Tymoshenko's prison term.
"I don't think the Ukrainian Railway hospital is a specialized medical institution which specializes in back problems and in difficult operations," Vlasenko said. "The German doctors have identified with absolute clarity that Tymoshenko's treatment is difficult and multifunctional. I think that, in this case, this is another attempt to pull the wool over Europe's eyes and show that, supposedly, we are implementing the decision of the European Court."
Tymoshenko, who says she is a victim of political persecution, has said that the doctors she has been permitted to see in prison have failed to provide her with proper care.
The European Court of Human Rights in March called on Ukraine's government to ensure that Tymoshenko receives "adequate medical treatment in an appropriate institution."
