On 5 January, Ukrainian prison officials said that the transfer of former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko from a Kiev penitentiary to one in Kharkov was lawful. Tymoshenko's daughter and defence lawyer, Eugenia Tymoshenko, called the move from the detention centre to the penal colony "absolutely outrageous and illegal," ITAR-Tass reported on 3 January. Eugenia said she was not informed of the move at the time.
The State Penitentiary Service said that the Pecherskyi District Court of Kiev's decision to sentence Tymoshenko to seven years in prison has come into effect in accordance with the Kiev Appeal Court's decision of 23 December 2011. In connection with this, the Pecherskyi District Court issued a directive on implementation of the sentence and sent it to the Lukianivka remand prison. "According to Article 87 of the Penal Code of Ukraine, persons sentenced to imprisonment are to be sent to the place where they will serve their sentence no later than ten days after the sentence comes into force," the State Penitentiary Service said.
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