Tymoshenko has no legal grounds to ask for visit to her sick mother, says prison service's official
The State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine has said that the jailed former prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, has no legal grounds to request a visit to her sick mother.
"The current laws and regulations that govern the activities of the prison service provide such an opportunity only in two cases. There is no other option," the press service quoted Assistance to Head of the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine Ihor Andrushko.
According to him, only inmates of penal institutions of minimum and medium security levels can be granted such short-term leave.
Andrushko also appealed to the media asking them not to misinterpret his words.
On Monday, Ukrainian television's Channel 5 quoted Andrushko as saying that in a force majeure situation, Tymoshenko might be allowed a brief visit outside her hospital, but that this would have to be requested in writing by the head of the Kachanivska Penal Colony in Kharkiv, where Tymoshenko is officially serving her seven-year sentence.
Later that day, the ex-premier's defense counsel, Serhiy Vlasenko, said that Tymoshenko had written a letter to Penitentiary Service officials requesting a brief leave to visit her sick mother.
