OSCE observer not allowed to visit Tymoshenko due to ex-premier's hunger strike, says penitentiary service

The State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine first allowed the head of the delegation of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Walburga Habsburg Douglas, to visit former Ukrainian Premier Yulia Tymoshenko, but later canceled its permission due to the declaration of a hunger strike by Tymoshenko.

"A meeting of convict Tymoshenko with the head of the OSCE's election observation mission, Walburga Habsburg Douglas, was scheduled for October 30. The administration of the State Penitentiary Service issued permission for it at first," the press service of the penitentiary service said.

However, as Tymoshenko refused food on October 29, the ex-premier has to remain under the constant supervision of doctors.

"Considering the doctors' recommendations and relevant regulations for such cases, the State Penitentiary Service informs that it is impossible to hold the meeting that was scheduled beforehand," reads the statement.

Both the convict and the OSCE representative were informed about the decision.

As reported, on October 29 Tymoshenko went on hunger strike in protest against the falsification of the parliamentary elections in Ukraine.

The ex-premier also announced hunger strike in April 2012, when a scandal emerged around alleged forced hospitalization of the ex-premier.

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. Currently, she is undergoing a treatment course at Kharkiv-based Central Clinical Hospital No. 5.

On October 29, 2012, Douglas presented a preliminary report on the parliamentary elections in Ukraine. According to the report, Ukraine took a step backwards by expelling hundreds of candidates mostly for technical reasons. Douglas also expressed her disappointment by the unfair expulsion of Tymoshenko and [former Interior Minister of Ukraine Yuriy] Lutsenko from the united opposition's party ticket.