Familie Timoshenko blij met steun EP maar niet helemaal eens met plan EP voor medische zorg (en)

BRUSSELS - The family of former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko would like the EU parliament to change its plan on medical monitoring in case the original one is counter-productive.

Parliament President Martin Schulz last week agreed with Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov "to propose a group of international doctors" - potentially from the Red Cross - to make sure she gets proper treatment for back pains.

He later tasked Polish centre-right MEP Jacek Protasiewics to put it into action.

Tymoshenko's daughter, Eugenia, told EUobserver from Kiev on Thursday (24 May) that her mother does not want the extra medical help in case it creates "confusion," however.

"She has already been diagnosed and she has the attention of an independent doctor [from the Charite institute in Germany] ... It could lead to confusion and disinformation by the Ukrainian authorities. It might give them the chance to falsify information and confuse people," she said.

"We are fighting a media war with the system."

She said she told Schulz at a meeting in Strasbourg on Tuesday that the parliament-nominated doctors should be sent to look after Yuriy Lutsenko and Valeriy Ivashchenko instead.

The two former Tymoshenko ministers are also in prison, with Eugenia Tymoshenko saying that Lutsenko has hepatitis and "might die."

She added that she last saw her mother on Friday in a prison-run hospital, that she was "very weak" after her recent hunger strike, "lying down and in a lot of pain," but also in "a little better mood."

She noted that her top priority is to get her mother into a normal hospital because she is under "psychological pressure" in her current location - her bed is being videoed by three CCTV cameras, she has only male but no female guards in attendance and authorities are interfering in doctors' work.

Eugenia Tymoshenko voiced gratitude for Schulz' initiative despite her misgivings.

She said the second part of his scheme, to nominate an internationally-respected personality to oversee her mother's legal appeal, is "very important."

The case will is to be heard on 26 June after a postponement. But unless Yulia Tymoshenko is fully exonerated of charges of abuse of office before 13 August she will not be able to register as a candidate in parliamentary elections in October, inviting a thumbs down on democratic standards by international observers.

On the Euro 2012 boycott, Eugenia Tymoshenko said EU politicians should feel free to "enjoy" the games but in a private capacity but not to go as official guests of the state.

She predicted that ordinary Ukrainians will exploit the event to stage political protests unless her mother, as well as Lutsenko and Ivashchenko, are freed before the tournament begins.