You're reading: Prison service: Tymoshenko allowed to use dosimeter, radiation levels normal at hospital

The level of background radiation is regularly measured in the premises of Central Clinical Hospital No. 5 in Kharkiv and on its territory, and the leadership of Kachanivska penal colony allowed Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko to use a dosimeter.

In connection with the statement by defense lawyers of the convicted former prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, concerning the need to constantly monitor the radiation levels in her ward, these measurements were made three times in 2012, the press service of the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine reported on Thursday.

Last time, the radiation level was measured on December 20, 2012, including in all the facilities of the hospital unit, where the ex-premier is staying. The radiation level did not exceed regulatory levels.

Moreover, additional checks involving Tymoshenko and her defense lawyers were held in the hospital, the press service said.

“In order to avoid speculative statements by Tymoshenko, her defense lawyers and some public officials, leadership of Kachanivska Penal Colony No. 54 permitted Tymoshenko to be given a dosimeter to control the background radiation.

On October 11, 2011, a court in Kyiv sentenced Tymoshenko to seven years in prison for allegedly exceeding her powers as prime minister in 2009 by giving the go-ahead to a natural gas deal with Russia that the current Ukrainian government claims to have been damaging to Ukraine.

Tymoshenko was moved to the Kachanivska prison in Kharkiv from a detention center in Kyiv in December last year, but was taken to Ukrainian Railroads Central Clinic No. 5 in Kharkiv on May 9 for treatment and rehabilitation prescribed by doctors from German clinic Charite.

A search was conducted at Tymoshenko’s ward in Central Clinical Hospital No. 5 in September 2012.Tymoshenko’s lawyer, Oleksandr Plakhotniuk said that the radiation dosimeters, which were taken from her during the search, had several times registered radiation levels that exceeded permissible levels over the time of her hospital treatment, and had asked that she be given new dosimeters.