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Tymoshenko goes on prison hunger strike
Journal Staff Report

KIEV, April 24 - Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has gone on a hunger strike in jail after prison guards punched her in the stomach and dragged her off for a medical examination, she said in a statement.

A regional prosecutor in Kharkiv denied the beating had taken place, but admitted that physical force had been used to deliver her to a state-run hospital.

The latest incident will most likely further escalate tensions between Ukraine and the West for the way the authorities handle the country’s top opposition leader.

Tymoshenko said the beating took place while she was being moved to the hospital last Friday after complaining of back pain.

"They approached my bed, put a sheet over me and started dragging me off the bed, using brute physical force. In pain and desperate, I started defending myself the way I could and received a strong fist punch in the abdomen," Tymoshenko said in the statement.

Serhiy Vlasenko, Tymoshenko’s lawyer, who read the statement, said three prison guards were involved in the attack.

"They twisted my arms, lifted me up and dragged me outside wrapped in a blanket. I thought those were the last minutes of my life," Tymoshenko wrote in the statement.

Henady Tyurin, a regional prosecutor, denied the beating, but admitted the relocation of Tymoshenko to the state-run hospital on Friday was forced.

"She packed up and got dressed and then lay on her bed and said 'I am not going anywhere'," Tyurin said. "The law ... allows the prison service to use physical force: [guards] lifted her, carried her to the car and took her to the hospital."

Tymoshenko returned to her Kachanivska prison in Kharkiv on Sunday after she had refused to be examined.

The opposition leader has been on a hunger strike since Friday to draw international attention to the situation in Ukraine, said Vlasenko.

Tymoshenko was sentenced to seven years in prison in October, convicted of abusing her power as prime minister in brokering a 2009 gas deal with Russia.

Yanukovych's government said that Tymoshenko pushed the deal through without securing the required approval from the Cabinet of Ministers. The deal saddled Ukraine, one of the largest consumers of natural gas in the world, with some of the highest prices for gas in Europe.

Tymoshenko is now standing a new trial, charged with tax evasion and attempted embezzlement, and faces up to 12 years in prison if found guilty.

She refused to attend the opening hearing this month citing poor health. The next session is scheduled for April 28.

Tymoshenko has denied any wrongdoing in both cases, dismissing them as part of a campaign of repression by Yanukovych's government. (tl/rt/ez)




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