You're reading: Kuzmin: Yuschenko won’t be forced into doing blood test

Third Ukrainian President (2005-2010) Viktor Yuschenko still has not agreed to give his blood sample for tests for the investigation into his alleged poisoning in 2004, First Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine Renat Kuzmin has said.

“We still haven’t received his consent to give his blood test,
without which the investigation cannot proceed,” he said in an interview
with the Segodnya daily newspaper.

“The new Criminal Procedure Code allows taking blood tests by force,
but only in theory. In practice we don’t have a mechanism for the
realization of this procedure. A group of experts is working on the
development of such mechanism. Probably, instructions will be sent to
the Health Ministry and security services,” Kuzmin said.

It was reported that on September 5, 2004, Yuschenko, a presidential
candidate at the time, met with senior Ukrainian security officers,
following which he fell ill and on September 10 was hospitalized in
Vienna. Doctors said Yuschenko was poisoned with dioxin, and that the
poison had got in the patient’s system approximately five days before
hospitalized. A number of tests was carried out later. In late May 2006,
Yuschenko again tested positive for dioxin.

At the same time, lately Yuschenko has ignored prosecutors’ request
to do the blood test as part of an inquiry into his poisoning.

In early June 2012, Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka said the
inquiry into the poisoning of Viktor Yuschenko could be closed by the
end of 2012.

Yuschenko’s press secretary, Iryna Vannykova, stated that the former
president was ready to undergo a new blood test only with the
participation of several international laboratories.