Defense lawyer of former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, Serhiy Vlasenko, has said that she continues to suffer from severe pain.
At a press conference on Wednesday, he said that doctors of the German Charité clinic noted some progress in the health condition of the former prime minister. “However, her health condition is such that she, unfortunately, continues to suffer from severe pain and cannot move, except with a walking frame. This is the real picture of Yulia Volodymyrivna [Tymoshenko’s] health,” Vlasenko said.
He expressed indignation that Ukrainian doctors said that Tymoshenko’s health allowed her to take part in court proceedings.
“None of the representatives of the Ukrainian part of the so-called international medical commission has made any examination of Tymoshenko. Thus, none of them saw Yulia Volodymyrivna, however, they allow themselves to make diagnoses, to make comments and so on,” he said.
As reported, on December 18, the international medical commission has come to the conclusion that there are no medical constraints to taking Tymoshenko to court.
On December 17, the ex-premier refused to attend of the hearing of a case concerning financial abuse within the United Energy Systems of Ukraine (UESU) for the 12th time.
Tymoshenko is charged under five episodes in the case – organization of the appropriation of public funds in an especially large amount in 1997-1998 via illicit receiving of value added tax (VAT) (Part 3 of Article 27, Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), attempt to appropriate public funds in an especially large amount in 1997-1998 via illicit receiving of VAT (Part 3 of Article 27, Part 2 of Article 15, Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code), tax evasion by the UESU Corporation (Part 3 of Article 27, Part 3 of Article 212 of the Criminal Code), non-payment of income tax (Part 3 of Article 212 of the Criminal Code), and committing a crime via official forgery (Part 3 of Article 27, Part 2 of Article 366 of the Criminal Code).
A preliminary hearing of the case was held on April 19, 2012 in the absence of Tymoshenko. Since then the court has been putting off hearings due to the fact that Tymoshenko kept refusing to attend the hearings due to her state of health.
On October 11, 2011, Pechersky District Court in Kyiv sentenced Tymoshenko to seven years in prison for abuse of office in signing gas contracts with Russia in 2009. She has served her sentence in Kachanivska Penal Colony in Kharkiv since late December 2011.
On May 9, 2012, Tymoshenko was transferred to Central Clinical Hospital No. 5 in Kharkiv to undergo a treatment course in line with recommendations made by doctors from the Berlin-based Charite Clinic.
On October 29, Tymoshenko went on hunger strike to protest alleged vote rigging during the parliamentary elections in Ukraine, and finished it on November 15.
