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Ukraine asks German doctors to treat Tymoshenko

26.04.2012    source: www.rferl.org
In the light of Ms Tymoshenko’s hunger strike following apparen ill-treatment, European Union Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele has stated that the treatment of Tymoshenko is a "stain" on Ukraine’s record.

 

Yulia Tymoshenko waves from a stretcher as she is taken to an ambulance in Kharkiv on April 22.

Ukraine has requested that German doctors be sent to examine and treat Yulia Tymoshenko after the opposition leader and former prime minister launched a hunger strike to protest her treatment in jail. 

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said "an official request" had been sent to the German government to assist in sending the doctors.

A team of German doctors examined Tymoshenko this month in prison in Kharkiv, the eastern city where the onetime Orange Revolution heroine is serving a seven-year sentence for abuse of office.

Tymoshenko’s lawyer said she began a hunger strike April 20 after she was beaten and forcibly taken to a hospital for treatment of debilitating back pain. Prison authorities have denied the allegations.

European Union Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele said on April 25 that the treatment of Tymoshenko is a "stain" on Ukraine’s record.

German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said Germany was deeply concerned by reports of Tymoshenko’s alleged mistreatment. He said if the reports were confirmed, such treatment would be "unacceptable and completely disproportionate."

A senior member of the Ukrainian opposition, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, alleged that staff at the prison had "grossly mishandled" Tymoshenko on April 20 while transporting her to a hospital, leaving her injured.

The Ukrainian parliament’s human rights commissioner, Nina Karpachova, on Wednesday said that during a visit to the prison in Kharkiv, a member of her staff had confirmed that Tymoshenko was bruised.

Karpachova asserted that Tymoshenko’s treatment could be regarded as "torture" and demanded prosecutors investigate the claims.

"Escorting Tymoshenko [to the hospital] in this manner amounts to cruel treatment of an inmate and can be regarded as torture under Article 3 of the European Convention of Human Rights and under the UN Convention Against Torture, " Karpachova said.

Tymoshenko was sentenced to seven years in prison in October on charges of abusing her power as prime minister in signing a 2009 gas deal with Russia. A new trial against her on charges of tax fraud allegedly committed during the 1990s began on April 19.

Tymoshenko, a leader of Ukraine’s 2004 pro-democracy uprising that thwarted the flawed election of Viktor Yanukovych to the presidency, says she is the victim of political vendetta by forces connected to Yanukovych, who defeated her in the second round of a hard-fought Ukrainian presidential election in 2010.

The European Union and the United States have also condemned Tymoshenko’s imprisonment as politically motivated. EU officials have warned the case threatens ratification of what is envisioned as a landmark political association agreement between Ukraine and the bloc that has been under negotiation for years.

Analysts say the case also risks casting a shadow as Ukraine makes final preparations to host the 2012 European football championship. Ukraine is co-hosting the championship, which begins June 8, with Poland.

Based on reporting by Reuters, AP, Interfax, and dpa

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