Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has been transferred to a pretrial detention center's European-standard medical unit for treatment, RAPSI news agency reported Wednesday, citing the Ukrainian penitentiary service.
A Kiev district court sentenced Tymoshenko to seven years in prison for abuse of power in signing gas contracts between Ukraine's Naftogaz and Russia's Gazprom in 2009. The sentence has been appealed.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych said on Monday that he ordered “European-level” custody conditions for Tymoshenko.
Following a medical check-up in a Kiev clinic on November 23, the Health Ministry's commission recommended that Tymoshenko's medical treatment in a pretrial detention center continue.
Doctors have not found any life-threatening abnormalities. However, her lawyers insist that Tymoshenko's condition have been deteriorating and prison doctors are only administering pain-killers.
Earlier, Tymoshenko was moved to another prison cell because of repair work, but her defense said the cell is so cold that the former prime minister must bundle up in order to stay there.
The penitentiary service also said its medical opinion is that Tymoshenko's health has not worsened in the last few days and corresponds to her diagnosis. It did not specify what that diagnosis was.
