Watchdog

The U.S.-based democracy-advocacy group Freedom House has said after meeting Ukraine's jailed former prime minister that it's seriously concerned for her health.

Freedom House envoy Damon Wilson said Yulia Tymoshenko was unable to sit or stand and had to lie in bed at Kharkiv's Kachanivska prison during the delegation's entire visit on April 4.

Wilson said receiving proper medical care was the most critical issue for Tymoshenko, who's serving a seven-year sentence on charges of abuse of office.

He expressed concerns Tymoshenko was not receiving adequate medical care from prison doctors.

On April 3, Freedom House officials visited jailed former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko in a Kyiv detention center, where he is serving a four-year sentence for alleged embezzlement as well as abuse of office.

Both Tymoshenko and Lutsenko pleaded not guilty in their trials, saying they were victims of political persecution.

Their convictions have been condemned by the United States and European Union as politically motivated.

The EU has also called for Tymoshenko to receive hospital treatment outside of prison.

With reporting by Interfax

Human Rights Watch (HRW) says Roma, Jews, and other minorities in Bosnia-Herzegovina remain excluded from participation in national politics.

In a report, released on April 4, the New York-based group calls on Bosnian leaders to remove ethnic discrimination against minorities from the country's constitution, laws, and public institutions.

HRW says much discrimination stems from Bosnia’s postwar 1995 constitution, which "mandates a system of government based on ethnicity and excludes these groups from high political office."

The constitution bars anyone who is not one of the country’s three main ethnic groups -– Bosniaks, Croats, and Serbs –- from running for the tripartite national presidency or the House of Peoples, one of two parliamentary chambers.

The report also highlights the impact that discrimination has on Roma when it comes to accessing housing, education, healthcare and employment.