The United States condemned the alleged mistreatment of jailed politician Yulia Tymoshenko in Ukraine on Tuesday and called for her release.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that Washington was “deeply concerned by the treatment” of Tymoshenko, adding that recent photos of the ex-Ukrainian prime minister and revolutionary leader with bruises on her arms and stomach “further call into question the conditions of her confinement,” according to Reuters.
Tymoshenko was found guilty of abuse of power by a Kiev court in October over a 2009 gas deal with Russia, and she recently began serving a seven year prison term. The verdict was widely decried as a political ploy by her rival, President Viktor Yanukovych, both at home and abroad.
Earlier this week, Tymoshenko went on a hunger strike after prison guards allegedly hit her and took her by force to a local hospital. On Tuesday, Clinton insisted that Ukraine give Tymoshenko medical treatment and allow the U.S. ambassador to visit her.
“We continue to call for her release, the release of other members of her former government and the restoration of their full civil and political rights,” Clinton said in a statement.
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