Medical help abroad possible for jailed Ukrainian opposition official, aide says

(CNN) -- Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has said he would be ready to let jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko go abroad for medical treatment if a law is passed making that legal, her spokeswoman, Natalia Lysova, said Thursday.

There was no immediate comment from Yanukovych's office.

Any change in the law would have to be passed by Ukraine's parliament before going to the president for his signature. It's not clear if that is likely to happen.

Two years ago, opposition leader Tymoshenko was sentenced to seven years in prison after being convicted of abuse of authority over a natural gas deal negotiated with Russia in 2009.

The United States and Europe see the punishment as politically motivated.

Media reports have said Tymoshenko has suffered serious back pain while in prison.

In 2012, after she was allegedly beaten unconscious by guards, she went on a hunger strike to draw attention to "violence and lack of rights" in her country.

Back in April, the European Court of Human Rights found that Tymoshenko suffered arbitrary detention in 2011, violating multiple articles of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The outspoken Tymoshenko, famous for her blond braid, was a heroine of Ukraine's 2004 Orange Revolution.

That wave of peaceful protest swept her and Viktor Yushchenko, Yanukovych's chief rival, into power, but the promise of the revolution is seen as having soon turned sour.

Yanukovych beat Tymoshenko in the country's 2010 presidential contest.