German doctor hesitates to say whether Tymoshenko attend court on October 15

KHARKIV – Doctor from Berlin-based Charite Clinic Lutz Harms does not know yet whether Yulia Tymoshenko could attend a court hearing on October 15 on the activities of the UESU Corporation.

"It's difficult to predict now. The disease pattern is somehow different, more complicated than we thought at the very beginning," Harms told the journalists on Tuesday near the building of Central Clinical Hospital No. 5, where the ex-premier is currently undergoing treatment.

Head of the joint medical commission Raisa Moiseyenko said it was difficult to answer the question of whether state of Tymoshenko's health will allow her to attend the court on October 15, but she stressed that at the moment the treatment of the ex-premier is based on physiotherapy.

"The patient isn't an in-patient…But in fact she just is undergoing physiotherapy. This is a method that is being applied rather effectively today. One thing is required - working diligently… But there should be two goals of any treatment, not only the doctors', but the patient herself should also work diligently. Now the patient will be observed at the in-patient department and undergo physiotherapy. The rest will be determined by the German side," Moiseyenko said.

On October 11, 2011, Pechersky District Court in Kyiv sentenced Tymoshenko to seven years in prison for abuse of office when signing gas contracts with Russia in 2009. She has been serving her prison term in the Kachanivska penal colony in Kharkiv since the end of December 2011.

The defense team has repeatedly stated that Tymoshenko had health problems even during her stay at Kyiv's pre-trial detention center, and demanded that she be examined by independent doctors, because Tymoshenko does not trust Ukrainian doctors. On May 9, Tymoshenko was moved from the prison to Central Clinical Hospital No. 5 in Kharkiv. The procedures for the ex-premier's treatment in hospital have been selected by German doctors from the Charite Clinic.

The trial in the criminal case against Tymoshenko on the activities of the UESU under her management is taking place in Kharkiv.