The life of Ukraine’s jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who is currently on a hunger strike, is in danger, Czech news agency CTK reported on Tuesday citing her daughter Yevhenia as saying.
“The time is running out. I do not know how long my mother will carry on with the hunger strike, whether it will be five or up to ten days,” Yevhenia told a news conference in Prague.
Last week, Tymoshenko, who suffers from spinal problems, started a hunger strike after prison guards allegedly beat her in the stomach while taking her to hospital by force. She had filed a complaint to the Prosecutor General’s Office.
Yevhenia also said that Ukraine is on the verge of turning into a totalitarianism state and the authorities’ behavior towards her mother is an “act of cynicism and cruelty.”
Tymoshenko, who is serving seven years in jail for abuse of office, has severe back pain and cannot walk. Doctors from German clinic Charite who examined her on Friday diagnosed Tymoshenko with “an acute form of herniation of intervertebral disks.”
Berlin is in talks now with Kiev to allow jailed ex-premier to receive treatment in Charite clinic.
