The special envoys of the European Parliament monitoring mission to Ukraine, former Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski and former president of the European Parliament Pat Cox, have said that the State Penitentiary Service has distributed false information that they allegedly made no comments, claims, complaints or remarks as a result of their visit to former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in Kharkiv hospital.
“Following the renewal of our mandate by the European Parliament’s Conference of Presidents yesterday, exceptionally and contrary to our practice, we hereby issue a short clarification in reaction to the statement released on February 5 by the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine,” reads a statement by Cox and Kwasniewski sent to Interfax-Ukraine by the EU Delegation in Kyiv.
The envoys say that the statement by the State Penitentiary Service is not true.
“This quotation is grossly misleading. Indeed, matters of significant and urgent concern regarding the detention conditions were raised by the monitoring mission,” Cox and Kwasniewski said.
They said they reserve the right to publish their notes of record if disputed.
As reported, Cox and Kwasniewski visited Ukraine on February 4-5. The meeting with Tymoshenko at Kharkiv-based Central Clinical Hospital No. 5, where the ex-premier is undergoing treatment, took place in the bathroom, where Tymoshenko is staying as part of her civil disobedience campaign.
The ex-premier’s daughter, Yevhenia Tymoshenko, said the European Parliament’s observers were shocked by the conditions in which the ex-premier is held at the clinic.
At the same time, the State Penitentiary Service said that the envoys made no comments, remarks or complaints to the leadership of the penal colony or medical institution.
As reported, Cox and Kwasniewski started monitoring the court proceedings involving former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on June 11, 2012 under an agreement between Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and European Parliament President Martin Schulz.
Their mandate was subsequently expanded to include the court proceedings involving former Interior Minister of Ukraine Yuriy Lutsenko and former Acting Defense Minister of Ukraine Valeriy Ivaschenko. Their work was suspended when parliamentary elections began in Ukraine and was then restarted.
