Ukraine ex-PM on hunger strike after"beating"-lawyer.
KHARKIV, Ukraine, April 24 (Reuters) - Former Ukrainian Prime Minister YuliaTymoshenko has gone on hunger strike in prison after guards dragged her off herbed and punched her in the stomach, her lawyer said on Tuesday.
Prison authorities deny the accusations.
Tymoshenko, the main opponent of President Viktor Yanukovich, is in jail convicted of abuse of office. She said the beating took place while she was being moved to a state-run hospital last Friday after complaining of back pain.
"They approached my bed, put a sheetover me and started dragging me off the bed, using brute physicalforce. In pain and desperate, I starteddefending myself the way I could andreceived a strong fist punch in the abdomen," Tymoshenko said ina statement read toreporters by her lawyer, Serhiy Vlasenko.
The 51-year-old was convicted last year in a case that strained relations between Ukraine and the West, which saw it as politically motivated.
In the statement, she said she had been attacked by three prison guards.
"They twisted my arms, lifted me up and dragged me outside wrapped ina blanket. I thoughtthose were the last minutes of my life."
The prison administration denied using any force against Tymoshenko, the Interfax news agency reported.
A state prosecutor denied allegations of beating but said Tymoshenko's move last week hadindeed been forced.
"She packed up andgot dressed and then lay on her bed and said 'I am not going anywhere'," Interfax quoted regional prosecutorHenady Tyurin as saying.
"The law ... allows the prison service to use physical force: (guards) lifted her, carried her to the car and took her to the hospital."
Tymoshenko returned to her prison in the city of Kharkiv on Sunday after she refused tobe examined.
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSL5E8FOCOH20120424?irpc=932
Austria, Belgium to boycott Ukraine's Euro matches
BERLIN (AP) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Ukrainian leaders on Thursday to allow jailed ex-Premier Yulia Tymoshenko"proper treatment" for her ailments, as more top officials announced they would boycott the Euro 2012 soccer championship co-hosted by Ukraine.
Merkel insisted that she had not yet decided whether to stay away from the matches to be held in Ukraine and that her priority now is the former leader's health.
http://ktar.com/?sid=1427938&nid=867
Ukraine : 4 explosions rock eastern city - 27 hurt
Four explosions rocked an eastern Ukrainian city Friday,injuring 27 people. Authorities say it was a terrorist attack, but an opposition lawmaker says it could be a government plot to divert attention from the imprisonment of opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko.
Top law enforcement officialsrushed to Dnipropetrovsk, 250 miles southeast of Kiev, to investigate but there was no immediate claim of responsibility. The violence underminedUkraine's security just weeks before it co-hosts the European soccer championships in June.
Many Ukrainian officials called the blasts terrorist attacks, including Deputy Prosecutor General Yevgeny Blazhivsky. Ukraine has not been afflicted with political terrorism, but there have been previous explosions connected to criminal extortion.
President Viktor Yanukovych vowed to investigate and punish the perpetrators.
"This is yet another challenge for us, for the whole country," Yanukovych told reporters in televised comments."We will think of how to respond to this properly."
The opposition partyled by the jailed former prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, however, suggested that Yanukovych's government may have organized the blasts to deflect the world's attention from Tymoshenko's imprisonment and reported abuse in prison.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/04/27/MN4I1OA8A0.DTL Euro 2012: Ukraine denounces moves to “politicise” event
After several European politicians said they intend to stay away, Ukraine has codemned what it describes as attempts to “politicise” the Euro 2012 football tournament.
Politicians are taking the action in protest at the treatment of imprisoned opposition leader Yulia Tymonshenko.
http://www.euronews.com/2012/05/03/euro-2012-ukraine-denounces-moves-to-politicise-event/