You're reading: Ombudsman leaves clinic without seeing Tymoshenko

Verkhovna Rada Human Rights Commissioner Valeria Lutkovska has left Kharkiv-based Central Clinical Hospital No. 5, where former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is undergoing treatment, without meeting with the ex-premier. 

“I did not warn the penitentiary service and the patient about my visit. The patient is hospitalized and I have no right to break into her ward. The chief of the guard asked her whether she wanted to see me and she said she did not want to. If she expresses such wish – her daughter [Yevhenia Tymoshenko] is with her and she will contact me,” Lutkovska told journalists outside the clinic on Monday.

She also said that her visit was connected with numerous contradictory reports about Tymoshenko’s health state and the conditions in which she is kept. The ombudsman said that she wanted to clarify the situation herself.

Lutkovska said that he examined the premises that were used by Tymoshenko.

“Now I would like to go to the [Kachanivska] colony, to see some acts and documents that are interesting to me and those attached to the [prisoner’s] personal file. In addition, I would like to talk to the regional prosecutor’s office,” she said.

Lutkovska also said she would hold a press conference on her visit to Kharkiv in Kyiv on Tuesday.