Vlasenko unaware that Tymoshenko was offered to be released from hospital

18:03, 17.04.2013 1 min read

Serhiy Vlasenko, a defense counsel of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, has said he did not know that Tymoshenko was offered to be discharged from Kharkiv-based Central Clinical Hospital No. 5.

"I don't know anything about this," Vlasenko told a press briefing on Wednesday.

He also said that he was surprised by recent reports in the media saying that the clinic chief, Mykhailo Afanasyev, had allegedly said that Tymoshenko had refused to be discharged.

"If a person is healthy, the doctor writes that he or she is healthy and has to be discharged. And if a person is sick, the doctor should write that the person is sick and his or her hospitalization should be prolonged. It's not about the will of the hospitalized person," Vlasenko said.

He also stressed that a German doctors from the Charite Clinic is in charge of Tymoshenko's treatment.

"The doctors that are in charge of her treatment and the penitentiary service are the ones who can decide on Tymoshenko's discharge," Vlasenko said.