The State Penitentiary Service has stepped up its attempts to prove that former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is being held in comfortable conditions by publishing photos of her cell on Dec. 14.
Tymoshenko has in recent days been absent from appeal court hearings into whether her seven-year conviction for abuse of office should be overturned. She was convicted and sentenced on Oct. 11.
Her team says she is sick and has trouble walking. Authorities say she is able to attend the hearings and does not need treatment outside the pre-trial detention center.
The photographs published on the State Penitentiary Service website show a modern, apparently recently refurbished room with a bed, sofa and separate bathroom.
More sensationally, a video published on YouTube on Dec. 14, shows Tymoshenko in the room at the medical center at Luyanivksy detention center
The video, which last just under two minutes, starts with doctors in white robes entering cell number 260, occupied by Tymoshenko. After the guard closes the door he opens a peep hole to allow a camera to film inside, but nothing is seen except doctors’ backs. The footage shows doctors leaving the cell, their faces blurred. The door remains open and the camera operator films Tymoshenko in bed, covered with a blanket.
Looking rather frail, she is wearing her trademark blonde braid. When she notices the camera she becomes irritated and gesticulates, demanding filming be stopped.
The second part of the footage seems to be filmed with a more professional camera and captures the same cell, but with no Tymoshenko in the picture.
A large flat-screen TV, air conditioner, new furniture and a fancy shower make the room seem like f a good hotel rather than Ukrainian prison. Even fancy bottles and little jars are carefully placed on the sides of the sink.
The video was uploaded on YouTube on the eve of Dec.14 by user marrapetta who registered on YouTube only a day before and shows no other activity so far.
Despite the obvious assistance that the camera operator gets from prison guards during the filming, the State Penitentiary Service said they do not know who filmed the video.
“We have only put photos of Tymoshenko’s cell on our website,” said Ihor Andrushko, spokesperson for State Penitentiary Service. “As for this video, we have nothing do not with it.”
When asked to comment on how a camera operator might have gotten into a closed and guarded detention center without permission, he asked to call back. Subsequent attempts to reach him were unsuccessful.
This photo appeared on the State Penitentiary Service’s official website. (kvs.gov.ua)
Tymoshenko’s team says the video is a violation of her privacy and is preparing complaints to the General Prosecutor’s Office, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the State Penitentiary Service.
“These are unlawful actions…When a sick person is unable to stand up and asks not to be filmed,” said Tymoshenko’s lawyer, Serhiy Vlasenko.
Interfax also quoted Vlasenko as saying: "I would say that the difference between humans and animals runs along the lines of morality. I am sure that the name of the brute in uniform, a colonel of the SBU (Security Service of Ukraine), who broke the law, will be announced to Ukrainians, as the country should know these beasts."
The video might have been shot during doctor’s visit to Tymoshenko on Dec. 13, when, according to State Penitentiary Service, Tymoshenko declined to be examined. According to the service, she has also repeatedly refused to give blood for tests and is not taking her subscription medication. Tymoshenko said earlier that she fears for her life in prison.
Newly constructed buildingfor female detainees. (kvs.gov.ua)
Human rights activists say that the footage shows a newly constructed medical unit for female detainees built as part of a European Union program. “The video is a smokescreen for what conditions are really like in Lukyanivsky detention center,” said Andriy Didenko, coordinator of the Kharkiv Human Rights Group.
He added that in other parts of Lukyanivsky medical unit there are not even enough beds and basic medications for detainees.
Kyiv Post staff writer Svitlana Tuchynska can be reached at [email protected].
