Vlasenko: Tymoshenko to be discharged from hospital by force

The cellmate hospitalized in the same ward as former Ukrainian Premier Yulia Tymoshenko at Central Clinical Hospital No. 5 in Kharkiv, has been discharged from the hospital and transported to a place unknown, the ex-premier's defense lawyer Serhiy Vlasenko has said.

"This morning they transported the cellmate of Yulia Volodymyrivna to an unknown destination, they did not take her to the Kachanivska prison and we don't know where she is now. They took her things and took her away within half an hour," Vlasenko told journalists near the hospital on Tuesday.

The lawyer thinks that this fact confirms that the information received from sources in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine (PGO) was trustworthy and that its is planned to remove Tymoshenko from the hospital by force to make her attend a court hearing of the criminal case on the activities of the United Energy Systems of Ukraine (UESU) Corporation on August 14.

Vlasenko also said that Tymoshenko sent letters to Head of the Kachanivska Penal Colony Ivan Pervushkin and Prosecutor General of Ukraine Viktor Pshonka and asked them to confirm or reject reports of the alleged intention to transport her from the hospital "using rough physical force."

If Pervushkin or Pshonka confirm the information, Tymoshenko also asked them to specify exactly when, and to where to they are planning to transport her.

The ex-premier also demanded explanations about why the recommendations of German doctors are not being carried out. As reported, the German doctors in charge of her treatment recommended that the ex-premier not be subject to artificially stressful situations.

Earlier, the press service of the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine informed that a convict from the Kachanivska prison was discharged from Central Clinical Hospital No. 5 in Kharkiv on Tuesday after she received effective medical treatment.

On August 6, Vlasenko said that the ex-premier would be transferred from the Kharkiv hospital to the Kachanivska prison this weekend.

The hospital's chief doctor Mykhailo Afanasyev said that Tymoshenko was not due to be discharged any time soon.