Kyiv, March 3 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine's State Penitentiary Service has not allowed Vice President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE Walburga Habsburg Douglas, and four other representatives of European institutions to visit former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who is serving a prison term in Kachanivska penal colony in Kharkiv.
"The agency’s leadership received a request from the Swedish ambassador to Ukraine… The State Prison Service of Ukraine states that in line with the current legislation, there are no grounds for granting permission for such a visit," reads a statement posted on the Web site of the State Penitentiary Service on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the European politicians still planning to visit the ex-premier, according to Tymoshenko’s Web site.
"The visit by OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Vice President Walburga Habsburg Douglas (Sweden) and PA member from Sweden Asa Lindestam to the Kachanivska penal colony scheduled for March 5 will take place as a show of solidarity and support for former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and other political prisoners in Ukraine," the statement reads.
According to the Web site, the European politicians will hold a press briefing outside the Kachanivska colony in Kharkiv at 1000 on March 5.
