Ukrainian opposition factions back alternative bill entitling convicts to treatment abroad
KYIV. Nov 1 (Interfax) - The opposition factions of the Ukrainian parliament, i.e. Batkivshchyna, Svoboda, and UDAR, are willing to support a bill entitling prison convicts to treatment abroad, which has been drawn up by independent parliamentarian Anzhelika Labunska, Batkivshchyna faction leader Arseny Yatsenyuk said.
"We are prepared to support this bill," Yatsenyuk said. "If it is passed, we will not insist on passing our bill," Yatsenyuk said at a press conference on Friday, adding that this is a common position of all the three opposition factions.
It was reported earlier that Labunska had submitted a bill to the Verkhovna Rada on October 22, under which a prison convict could be entitled to medical treatment abroad if full recovery was not achieved after a year of uninterrupted treatment at a medical institution outside the penitentiary system in Ukraine. The same bill stipulates that, in such cases, a court would be supposed to exempt this convict from imprisonment for health reasons.