[JURIST] The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) [official website] on Friday urged the Ukrainian government to ensure that former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko [official profile] receive adequate medical treatment [statement]. Tymoshenko, who was convicted [JURIST report] of abusing her power as prime minister, is reportedly suffering from an unknown medical ailment, a slipped disk [Kiev report] according to her daughter. She has been appealing her conviction, which has been criticized as politically motivated [JURIST report], but has been denied medical treatment at an outside facility. The court ordered that Tymoshenko be allowed to “receive adequate medical treatment in an appropriate institution.”

In December the EU policy chief criticized the court of appeals [JURIST report] in Tymoshenko’s case for not addressing the actual legal issues of the case. Earlier that month, Tymoshenko ended her appeal in Ukrainian courts [JURIST report] in order to focus on appeals in the ECHR. Her initial appeal was denied [JURIST report] that same month.