The State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine has asked the Health Ministry to hold a meeting of an international medical commission to consider former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's request to be transferred from Central Clinical Hospital of Kharkiv No. 5 to prison.

"On October 19, convict Tymoshenko submitted a statement to head of Kachanivska Penal Colony No. 54 asking to be transferred from the Ukrzaliznytsia Central Clinical Hospital, where she is currently undergoing rehabilitation, to the penal colony. In this connection the State Penitentiary Service has asked the Health Ministry to hold a meeting of an international medical commission with the participation of Ukrainian physicians and doctors from the German Charite Clinic, who are in charge of the process of rehabilitation of the convict, to decide on the convict's request," the agency's press service reported.

The ministry said that the final decision concerning the possibility of Tymoshenko's return to Kachanivska colony will be made based on the conclusion of the international medical commission.

Chief of Central Clinical Hospital of Kharkiv No. 5 Mykhailo Afanasyev said on Monday that the doctors from the German Charite Clinic would decide whether Tymoshenko should be discharged from hospital.

"We have received a request from patient Tymoshenko and it is being translated into German. The information about the patient's wish to be discharged from the hospital will be sent to the Charite Clinic, to the doctors in charge of her treatment. As long as our German colleagues are fully responsible for the rehabilitation course, its planning and implementation, it is logical that they should decide whether the rehabilitation course can be completed. Speaking about Ukrainian doctors, we ourselves cannot make such decisions. We are just thoroughly fulfilling the recommendations of the doctors from the Charite Clinic," Afanasyev said.

On October 11, 2011, Pechersky District Court in Kyiv sentenced Tymoshenko to seven years in prison for overstepping her authority when signing 2009 gas contracts with Russia. She has served her sentence in Kachanivska Penal Colony in Kharkiv since late December 2011.

On May 9, Tymoshenko was transferred to Central Clinical Hospital No. 5 in Kharkiv for treatment. The ex-premier's course of treatment in hospital was drawn up by German doctors from the Charite Clinic.

Earlier, Tymoshenko wrote an open letter to the president with a request to return her from the clinic to the prison. She also complained about round the clock video surveillance in her ward.