You're reading: Tymoshenko’s defense team shocked by conditions in her ward

The defense lawyer of former Ukrainian Premier Yulia Tymoshenko, Serhiy Vlasenko, has criticized the conditions in his client's hospital ward.

At a briefing on Friday Vlasenko said that he had met with Tymoshenko on Thursday and "what she told shocked and impressed me."

According to Vlasenko, three video cameras are installed in Tymoshenko’s ward, the windows are covered with opaque oilskin, and it is impossible to open the windows properly.

"Meanwhile, the authorities are trying to say that Tymoshenko is being kept in exclusive conditions," he said.

In addition, according to Vlasenko, Tymoshenko is deprived of the possibility to "start coming off her hunger strike."

"The penitentiary service cynically spreads information, according to which Tymoshenko received all of the necessary parcels from her relatives," Vlasenko said.

He added that at the request of German doctor Lutz Harms, Tymoshenko’s daughter Yevhenia gathered all necessary products for her mother to come off her hunger strike. Vlasenko said these products include juices, which the employees of the penitentiary service refused to accept. According to him, the penitentiary service accepted only those products that are allowed on the third, fourth and fifth days after the end of a hunger strike, but they refused to take juices.

"So, they are doing everything so as not to let Yulia Tymoshenko stop her hunger strike in a proper way," the defense lawyer said.

Vlasenko added that the authorities created conditions in which Tymoshenko cannot undergo treatment in the hospital, and "in fact, the main recommendations of German doctors are not being fulfilled."