Prison officials at the penal colony in Kharkiv Oblast have released a video portraying what they describe as disorderly conduct by former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.
The release of the footage follows a video appeal by Tymoshenko herself, released a day earlier, in which the opposition leader called on Ukrainians to defeat President Viktor Yanukovych in the upcoming parliamentary elections scheduled for Oct. 28. The emotional appeal, filmed with Tymoshenko’s cell phone, according to her lawyer, accuses Yanukovych of having turned Ukraine into a police state.
According to the prison’s press service, the video was taken after opposition leaders, who had come to visit Tymoshenko but were refused access, had already left the building. They described the footage as showing Tymoshenko being difficult and unruly, “ignoring the request of medical staff to not disturb the working of the medical facility, ignoring any comments and requests of Kachanivsky colony staff, and trying to damage the door to the ward with their heels.”
They said the video was released to prevent future misinterpretation of the situation in the colony and the behavior of the penitentiary staff.
