An examination conducted by Kharkiv Bokarius Research Institute of Forensic Examinations has found no evidence to suggest an audio recording of a phone conversation between Ukraine's jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and her husband, Oleksandr was tampered with electronically, the press office of the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine has reported.
The press office noted that on January 11, the service received a statement from Tymoshenko regarding the appearance of a Web site of an audio recording of a phone conversation between her and her husband. Head of Kachanivska Penal Colony Ihor Kolpaschykov ordered official checks in this regard.
The checks showed that employees of the penitentiary service, particularly those guarding the hospital in Kharkiv, where Tymoshenko is undergoing treatment, had not brought, received or passed any devices for audio recording and recorded no conversations.
The mobile phone from which the ex-premier made the call, as well as the headset used and a copy of the audio recording posted on the Internet, were sent to the Bokarius Institute of Forensic Examinations.
“The study of the Bokarius Institute says that there are no signs of an open environment in the phonograms, and there are no typical signs of the electronic editing of recordings,” the press service said.
On January 10, a YouTube user named Anezka posted an audio recording entitled “Julija Tymosenkova mluvi k manzelovi” (Yulia Tymoshenko talks to her husband). Despite the poor quality of the recording, it is possible to understand that the sides are talking to each other about how they spent their holidays, as well as a delay in the endorsement of a decision by the ECHR under Tymoshenko’s complaint due to the maternity leave of Judge Hanna Yudkivska. In particular, the woman in the recording says: “We still need to work on this issue, and the [judge] will cough up such meanness.”
The defense team of the former prime minister is preparing a statement for the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine and Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office demanding to clarify how the audio recording came to be posted on the Internet. Tymoshenko’s lawyer, Oleksandr Plakhotniuk, said that the recording on the Internet had been tampered with and that part of the conversation had been distorted.
