European court satisfied with Tymoshenko treatment

Europe’s top rights court said yesterday it was satisfied with the medical treatment given to Ukraine’s jailed ex-premier Yulia Tymoshenko but sought more information on the case.

The European Court of Human Rights added that it “remains seized of the matter”, meaning it reserves the right to reconsider the issue.

It also asked Kiev to “provide additional observations on the subject of the admissibility and the background of the case, including the forced transfer on the night of April 20, 2012 and the constant surveillance to which the plaintiff was allegedly subject.”

Ms Tymoshenko, 51, is serving a seven-year sentence for abuse of power and now faces fresh charges that could extend her sentence to 2023. Her jailing has prompted howls of international criticism.

The Strasbourg-based court in March asked that “Tymoshenko receive adequate medical treatment in an appropriate institution”, and it said in its latest finding that Ukraine had “complied with the measure”.

But it declined a request made by Ms Tymoshenko in late April to require Ukraine’s government to allow her to be treated in a hospital in Germany.

Ms Tymoshenko, a driving force of Ukraine’s 2004 pro-Western “Orange Revolution”, served as prime minister in 2005 and again from 2007 to 2010, when she lost a presidential race to current leader Viktor Yanukovych.