UKRAINE: Judge announces verdict to keep Tymoshenko ally, former interior minister Yuri Lutsenko, in jail - a decision Lutsenko's wife says is politically motivated

Record ID: 862235

  • Title: UKRAINE: Judge announces verdict to keep Tymoshenko ally, former interior minister Yuri Lutsenko, in jail - a decision Lutsenko's wife says is politically motivated
  • Date: 3rd April 2013
  • Summary: KIEV, UKRAINE (APRIL 3, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF EXTERIOR OF COURT HOUSE JOURNALISTS IN COURT ROOM
  • Embargoed: 18th April 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Ukraine
  • City:
  • Country: Ukraine
  • Topics: Crime,Politics,People
  • Reuters ID: LVA9CGZI01NSVWCPK05XWED4AQ2L
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: A Ukrainian court on Wednesday (April 3) upheld a decision from Kiev's Pechersky District court to keep former Ukrainian Interior Minister Yuri Lutsenko in jail.
    Lutsenko, an ally of jailed former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, is serving a four-year sentence for embezzlement and abuse of office.
    The former interior minister is one of several Tymoshenko political allies to be jailed, including the former Prime Minister herself, who was sentenced to seven years in prison in October 2011 on abuse-of-office charges.
    Lutsenko and Tymoshenko's jailings have been criticised by the West, and the European Union warned Yanukovich in February that a free trade deal could be jeopardized if Ukraine did not show progress towards political reform by May.
    Yanukovich, despite an often-stated commitment to taking Ukraine into mainstream Europe, has so far refused to bow to pressure either from the opposition or from Western governments and intervene in the case of Tymoshenko, his fiercest rival.
    Lutsenko's wife, Irina, said the court's decision had been politically motivated.
    "We've gone through all the courts. We've proven (Lutsenko's) innocence to the public, journalists, everyone. The public knows that Lutsenko was jailed as political opponent of the current authorities, a personal enemy of Yanukovich, so there is no need to prove anything," Irina Lutsenko said.
    "We see that this verdict is not for Yuri Lutsenko, but for the justice of Ukraine, because any grounds in this court, as in other sessions, don't have any significance. The decision isn't made in the courtroom, but in other offices where the defense and prosecution are not present," Lutsenko's lawyer Igor Fomin told journalists.
    Although Ukraine is keen to cut its dependency on Russia, particularly its gas supplies, Kiev has yet to make a clear choice between a closer relationship with the EU or Moscow.
    There had been strong speculation that Lutsenko might receive more lenient treatment, but the judges overseeing the case on Wednesday only made a slight reduction in the amount of money Lutsenko is required to pay.
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