Tymoshenko Lawyer Breaks Into Jail

Tymoshenko lawyer Serhiy Vlasenko during a January visit to the Kharkov prison

Serhiy Vlasenko, the lawyer for former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, on April 12 crawled under the fence of the prison where Tymoshenko is held to see his client.

Chief of the Kharkov prison Ivan Pervushkin called Vlasenko's entry onto prison territory "voluntary trespassing."

Vlasenko said he was forced to go to such lengths because prison officials were preventing him from meeting with his client.

Vlasenko said when he arrived at the prison at 15:00 local time, regular working hours, the gate to the facility was locked and the guards were on break.

Vlasenko said when no one responded to his calls for someone to open the gate he decided to crawl under the fence and go to the warden to ask why he was being prohibited from seeing Tymoshenko.

With reporting from ITAR-TASS and Vesti