Lawyer Denies Tymoshenko Ended Hunger Strike

Supporters of opposition parties hold up a portrait of jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in Kyiv on November 12.

A lawyer for Ukraine's jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is denying officials' claims that she has ended her hunger strike.

Earlier on November 15, Deputy Health Minister Raisa Moiseyenko told reporters Tymoshenko stopped her hunger strike after meeting with German doctors.

Moiseyenko said food had already been delivered to Tymoshenko's room at the hospital in the eastern city of Kharkiv where she is currently being treated.

Serhiy Vlasenko, Tymoshenko's lawyer, later told reporters the former prime minister has not yet resumed eating.

Tymoshenko, a bitter rival of President Viktor Yanukovych, began her hunger strike 17 days ago to protest alleged vote rigging during Ukraine's October 28 parliamentary elections.

She is serving a seven-year prison term for abuse of office.

Tymoshenko and her supporters say the charges are politically motivated.