NATO Parliamentary Assembly: Allow Tymoshenko to be treated in Germany

NATO Parliamentary Assembly has asked the Ukrainian authorities to allow the convicted former prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, to be taken to Germany for medical treatment, NATO Parliamentary Assembly President Karl Lamers (Germany) said in an interview with the Ukrainian parliamentary newspaper Holos Ukrayiny (Voice of Ukraine).

"Germany has invited Tymoshenko to come for treatment at least for a short period. A total of 257 members of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly backed this idea and are asking the Ukrainian authorities to allow the opposition politician to go to Germany for treatment and then return to Ukraine," he said.

"During a conversation with me, Tymoshenko agreed to this and assured that she would return to her homeland. I have discussed this matter with the prime minister and the foreign affairs minister (of Ukraine)," the president of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly said.

Speaking about his meeting with Tymoshenko at hospital, which took place on July 3, Lamers said: "I must say that she has a very strong will, but physically she is weak."

Pechersky District Court in Kyiv found Tymoshenko guilty of abuse of office in signing gas supply agreements with Russia in 2009 and sentenced her to seven years in prison on October 11, 2011. She started serving her prison term at a Kharkiv-based penitentiary at the end of December 2011.

Tymoshenko's defense team repeatedly claimed that she was experiencing serious health problems even when she was held at a Kyiv detention facility and demanded that she be examined by independent medics, as she did not trust Ukrainian doctors. Tymoshenko was transferred on May 9 from the penitentiary to Central Clinical Hospital No. 5 in Kharkiv. German doctors from the Berlin-based Charite Clinics are currently in charge of her treatment.