Kharkiv – 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, mainly criticized the video surveillance cameras in the ward of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, Head of the Kachanivska Penal Colony Ihor Kolpaschykov has said.
“They mainly criticized the video cameras and the monitoring room… One of their remarks was connected with a video surveillance camera installed in the room for the employees [of the Central Clinical Hospital No. 5, where Tymoshenko is undergoing treatment],” he told journalists on Monday.
Kolpaschykov stressed that all of the cameras and the monitoring room have been removed.
He added that the cameras were removed by the prison service employees under an internal instruction issued back in January 2013.
He also said that the EP’s monitoring mission did not send its representative to Kharkiv at Tymoshenko’s request in order to monitor her transportation to Kyiv for the participation in the interrogation of a witness on the criminal case on the murder of Ukrainian parliamentarian Yevhen Scherban.
“Two requests were sent on the same day – one of them to Cox and Kwasniewski and another one to the ombudsman’s representative. As you can see, the ombudsman’s representative has arrived – the request was received on time,” Kolpaschykov said.
Earlier, the ombudsman’s representative, Yuriy Bilousov, said that the secretariat of the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights never received Tymoshenko’s official request, and the secretariat only heard about it from media reports.
As reported, Cox and Kwasniewski visited Ukraine on Feb. 4-5, 2013. During the visit they went to the Mena Penal Colony in Chernihiv region to meet with jailed former Interior Minister of Ukraine Yuriy Lutsenko. They also visited Central Clinical Hospital No. 5 in Kharkiv, where Tymoshenko is undergoing treatment. The ex-premier’s daughter, Yevhenia Tymoshenko, said that the EP representatives met with Tymoshenko at the bathroom where she stayed during her civil disobedience campaign.
Tymoshenko’s daughter also said that Cox and Kwasniewski were shocked by the conditions in the hospital.
In turn, the State Penitentiary Service said that the EP representatives made no comments, claims, complaints or remarks as a result of their visit to Tymoshenko in Kharkiv hospital.
On Feb. 7, Cox and Kwasniewski dismissed the statement of the State Penitentiary Service.
“Indeed, matters of significant and urgent concern regarding the detention conditions were raised by the monitoring mission,” they said.
They said they reserve the right to publish their notes of record if disputed.
On Feb. 22, the prison service said that video surveillance cameras have been removed from Tymoshenko’s ward.
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.
