Jailed ex-PM claims ‘Stalinist’ treatment

Published on 14/09/2012 00:00

Jailed Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko has accused president Viktor Yanukovich of using Stalinist methods against her, after prison officials confiscated devices that she said revealed high radiation levels in her hospital ward.

The ex-prime minister accused Mr Yanukovich of being behind the unusually high dosages of radiation.

“Only he is capable now of taking special measures against my health and my life,” she said.

Tymoshenko, 51, made her allegations on her party’s website after prison officials searched her hospital room in Kharkiv, where she is confined with back trouble, and took away some of her possessions.

“Today a search worthy of the best traditions of 1937 was carried out,” Tymoshenko said, referring to dictator Josef Stalin.