(AFP) Photographs of injuries allegedly sustained by Yulia Tymoshenko, the jailed former prime minister of Ukraine, when she was beaten by prison guards, have been published online.
The images appear to show bruising and scratches on Mrs Tymoshenko’s left arm and stomach, which she claims she received when she was hospitalized against her will last week.
The politician, who suffers from acute back pain, went on hunger strike after the incident on April 20, during which she was taken by force to a clinic in Kharkiv, the city in eastern Ukraine where she is serving a seven-year sentence for abuse of office.
Mrs Tymoshenko, 51, was jailed last year after what her supporters called a show trial organized by her political rival, President Viktor Yanukovych.
Her lawyer, Sergei Vlasenko, said his client was roughly handled and punched in the stomach when she resisted guards who carried her to a vehicle that took her to the clinic.
She refused treatment there and was later returned to prison.
Eugenia Tymoshenko, the former prime minister’s daughter, said yesterday (Friday) that the alleged abuse had exacerbated her mother’s spinal condition, causing her “tremendous pain”.
Mrs Tymoshenko’s office said the photographs of her, published by a Ukrainian journalist on Facebook, were genuine. EU officials have complained about her treatment and said her imprisonment was politically motivated.
Mrs Tymoshenko wants to be treated abroad, saying she fears that she could be deliberately infected with a disease in a Ukrainian hospital. German doctors who have examined her said this week that they doubted the Kharkiv clinic had the expertise to treat her back condition.
On Thursday, President Yanukovych ordered prosecutors to investigate his rival’s alleged beating.
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