Negotiations on treatment of Yulia Tymoshenko in Germany

A spokesperson for the German Government confirmed on Saturday that the Government is holding talks with Kyiv on treating former Prime Minister and opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko in a German hospital.

The information had initially be published by Suddeutsche Zeitung which said that the Ukrainian side had apparently stated that they wished to check the possibility of creating the legal grounds for releasing Tymoshenko for treatment abroad. The newspaper cited the Deputy Prosecutor General Renat Kuzmin during his visit to Berlin last week.

The newspaper assumes that Yanukovych may agree since he does not want to totally sour relations with the EU and cast a shadow over the coming Euro 2012 Championship being hosted by Ukraine and Poland.

German doctors examined Yulia Tymoshenko back in February and recommended hospital treatment.

The European Court of Human Rights has also applied Rule 39, calling on the Ukrainian Government to provide the opposition leader, whose imprisonment has been widely condemned as politically motivated, with hospital care.  This has thus far been ignored.