KIEV, November 8 - RAPSI, Viktor Avdeyenko. The health of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who has been on a hunger strike for ten days already, has severely deteriorated, Alexander Plakhotnyuk, Tymoshenko's attorney, said on Wednesday.

Tymoshenko, who is being treated at a Kharkiv hospital, went on a hunger strike on 29 October to protest against the Ukrainian parliament elections results, which she believes were falsified. On Tuesday, doctors offered to carry out a medical examination, which she refused, and urged her to stop the hunger strike.

Plakhotnyuk said that the deterioration in Tymoshenko's health may be related to both the hunger strike and her refusal to accept treatment. He also said that Tymoshenko is determined to go on with the hunger strike until the falsifications in the elections are acknowledged.

The Ukrainian parliamentary elections were held on October 28. The Ukrainian Central Election Commission has so far failed to process 100% of protocols due to disputed situations in several majoritarian districts. The opposition claims that authorities committed mass falsifications and is holding a protest rally by the Central Election Committee.

In October 2011, Tymoshenko was sentenced to seven years in prison for abuse of power based on a 2009 gas contract that she signed with Russia. She is serving her sentence in a Kharkiv women's prison. She began receiving treatment at a Kharkiv hospital in May 2012. She was diagnosed with a spinal disc herniation.

In late March, a second case bringing further charges against Tymoshenko was filed with Kharkiv's Kievsky District Court. The case deals with her activity at UESU.

She is accused of misappropriating funds.