A lawyer for Ukraine's jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on Wednesday said he may sue a news agency over publication of a video alleging he had an affair with his defendant.

The three-minute-long black and white video, available on YouTube, features a woman resembling Tymoshenko who is soon joined by a man resembling her lawyer, Serhiy Vlasenko. The woman begins kissing and cuddling with her visitor. The video has very low resolution; the features of the people could not be identified.

“I’ll study this video," Vlasenko told Kommersant-Ukraina daily. "Most likely, I will [sue the news agency].”

Vlasenko categorically denied having an affair with Tymoshenko.

Tymoshenko’s party on Tuesday called the video “fake and bogus,” while the State Penitentiary Service’s first deputy head, Serhiy Sydorenko, described it as “truthful.” A probe may be initiated to establish how the news agency obtained the video, he said.

The Ukrainian opposition leader has been jailed for seven years for abusing her power by pushing through a 2009 gas deal with Russia. She is serving her term in a penal colony in the eastern city of Kharkov. She has maintained her innocence.

On Tuesday, Tymoshenko, who suffers from spinal problems, started a hunger strike after prison guards allegedly beat her in the stomach while taking her to hospital by force.

Vlasenko said the publication of the video aimed to distract society from this incident.

After visiting Tymoshenko in jail, Ukrainian human rights ombudswoman Nina Karpachyova confirmed on Wednesday that she had bruises on her arm, right elbow and the right part of her abdomen, according to opposition politician Arseniy Yatsenyuk.

Sydorenko, however, insisted on Wednesday that “no beating has taken place.” The Penitentiary Service said Tymoshenko refused on Tuesday to be inspected by a medical expert, a claim dismissed by her lawyer.

(Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)

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(Agencies)