Jailed politician ‘needs surgery’

The daughter of jailed former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko has said her mother may require surgery.

Tymoshenko, 51, the country’s top opposition leader, is serving a seven-year sentence after being convicted of abuse of office in a trial the West has condemned as politically motivated.

She has complained of severe back pain and accused prison doctors of mistreating her.

Her daughter, Eugenia Tymo-shenko, told Radio Liberty’s Russian service that visiting German doctors had concluded that her mother has a hernia and may need surgery if prison doctors continue to mistreat her.