European Union Ambassador to Ukraine Jose Manuel Pinto Teixeira was prevented from visiting jailed ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko in hospital on Sunday because he did not request permission from the proper authority, the Ukrainian state prison service said on Monday.
Teixeira reported on Sunday that he was barred from the hospital in Kharkov where Tymoshenko is receiving treatment. He said he has waited nearly 10 months for permission to visit here, but has always received refusals.
“Teixeira has not requested a meeting with Yulia Tymoshenko from the head of the Kachanovskaya penal colony, and there were no requests on his latest visit to the hospital on Sunday,” the prison service said in the statement.
Moreover, under Ukrainian law, meetings with convicts undergoing outside treatment "are suspended (or restricted)" pending their return to their regular place of incarceration, the statement said.
Finally, it said, no visit with Tymoshenko in hospital can be made without the agreement of her doctor.
Tymoshenko has received visits from 27 foreigners since her incarceration began nine months ago.
Tymoshenko was sentenced to seven years in prison for pushing through a 2009 gas deal with Russia while she was prime minister. The current government says the deal has caused Ukraine billions of dollars in losses. It denies accusations by Western powers and Russia that the trial was politically motivated.
Tymoshenko began serving her sentence at the end of December 2011 at the Kharkov prison. She was moved to the Kharkov hospital on May 9.
