Ukraine: Tymoshenko's health improves

Ukraine's Health Minister Raisa Bogatyrova said on Friday that the health of jailed former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko has significantly improved. "A commission from the health ministry concluded that the patient Tymoshenko does not require further in-patient treatment and rehabilitation," Bogatyrova told a press briefing here. The improvement in Tymoshenko's health means that she no longer needs to stay in an out-of-prison health center, Bogatyrova added. Tymoshenko, who is serving a seven-year prison sentence after being convicted of power abuse in a 2009 gas deal with Russia, had complained of intensive back pains since October 2011. She has been treated by Ukrainian and German doctors for over 9 months at a health center in the eastern Kharkov region. The former prime minister, who was in office from 2007 to 2010, also faces charges of tax evasion back in the 1990s, when she was a businesswoman. The 51-year-old politician, a major rival of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, has denied all the charges, calling them "politically motivated."