Tymoshenko out of German clinic

Former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko plans to return to Kiev after completing treatment for back pain at a German clinic.

Ukraine's former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko has left a German clinic after treatment for severe back pain and plans to return to Kiev, the hospital says.

Tymoshenko, a leader of the pro-Western Orange Revolution in 2004, has been undergoing medical care for herniated discs at Berlin's renowned Charite University Hospital since March 7.

"Yulia Tymoshenko wants to go back to Kiev today," hospital spokesman Uwe Dolderer said in a statement on Wednesday, announcing her discharge from the clinic.

He said Tymoshenko had twice received injections to the vertebral column in recent days and the hospital has recommended she continue her rehabilitation in Ukraine and use crutches until she is fully recovered.

Tymoshenko, 53, was freed from prison on February 23, having served three years of a seven-year sentence for abuse of power, a charge she always denied.

Her release came in the immediate aftermath of the ousting of her rival, Ukraine president Viktor Yanukovych, after three months of protests by pro-EU demonstrators.

Immediately after her release, she appeared in a wheelchair in Kiev's Independence Square to deliver a stirring speech to the protesters.

Tymoshenko's relationship with the Berlin hospital goes back several years.

A team of its doctors was given permission to examine her in April 2012, while she was imprisoned, although their recommendation to treat her in Germany was never accepted by Kiev.


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Source: AAP

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Tymoshenko out of German clinic | SBS News