Former Ukrainian Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko, who is being held in a pretrial detention facility in Kyiv, has refused to undergo a medical examination by experts from the Health Ministry of Ukraine, the press service of the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine informed on Friday.
As reported, on September 1 Lutsenko’s defense team and family claimed that his health and life were in danger. At a press conference his wife said that he had been diagnosed with cryptogenic cirrhosis, which could lead to cancer if not treated.
The penitentiary service reported on Friday that a commission of the leading gastroenterologist from the Health Ministry, headed by the main gastroenterologist of Ukraine Natalia Kharchenko, arrived to the detention facility upon agreement with Kyiv’s Pechersky District Court.
The commission was supplied with all necessary medical equipment for a complex examination of Lutsenko.
"But Lutsenko categorically refused to tell the commission about the state of his health, and rejected a medical examination," the penitentiary service said.
"Today Lutsenko’s state of health is under constant monitoring by the medical personnel of the detention facility," reads the statement.
Lutsenko was detained on December 26, 2010, and the courts sanctioned his arrest soon afterwards.
