Kyiv's Appeal Court on Nov. 22 rejected the complaint of Ukraine’s former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko regarding his second conviction for negligence in connection to the investigation ex-President Viktor Yushchenko 2004 poisoning.
Lutsenko said the decision
did not come to him as a surprise, as “no legal system exists in
this country.”
But he denied any wrong
doing and called the trial political. Two other defendants in this
case – former police officers Volodymyr Tarasenko and Oleh Pavlenov
– also insisted they are innocent.
European Union officials
have described the trials of Lutsenko, ex-Prime Minister Yulia
Tymoshenko and other former government officials as politically
motivated, leading to a deep freeze of Ukraine’s relations with the
EU.
The appeal court’s
decision confirmed the Pechersk court’s decision taken on Aug. 17
to sentence Lutsenko to two years in jail for professional
negligence. The negligent act was allowing the extension of
surveillance for up to 18 months of a driver of Volodymyr Satsiuk,
former deputy head of Ukraine’s Security Service.
Satsiuk was present during
a dinner with Yushchenko in September 2004, when Yushchenko was the alleged attempt to poison him took place.
Yushchenko at the time was
running for president in a campaign which ended in the Orange
Revolution against a rigged election, eventually bringing him to the
presidency.
On Feb. 27 Lutsenko was
sentenced to four years in jail on abuse of office charges for
illegally promoting his driver and giving him an apartment on the
public dime. The four year jail sentence overlaps with the second,
two year conviction.
Lutsenko has spent almost
two years behind bars since his arrest on Dec. 26, 2010.
On July 3 the European
Court for Human Rights found his arrest illegal and on Nov. 20
confirmed its decision by rejecting the Ukrainian government’s
follow-up appeal.
Lutsenko and his lawyers
also plan to take these cases all the way to the European Court for
Human Rights.
During the appeal court
hearing on Nov. 21 Lutsenko said the previous court’s decision
should be removed, as the Pechersk court violated his rights, notably
by not inviting witnesses which the defense wanted to question in
court.
The court room was filled
by Lutsenko’s supporters and journalists. His wife Iryna, who is
his legal representative in court, along with their elder son and
Lutsenko’s brother also came to the trial.
In court debates the
jailed former minister said that no crime was committed and the
prosecutors failed to identify those who suffered from the extension
of the surveillance despite alleging it. The driver who was under
surveillance said in the past he did not consider himself to be
aggrieved.
Unlike the Pechersk court
trial, where the judge hardly ever asked any questions, the appeal
court judges seemed more active in trying to figure out the details
of the case.
At times prosecutors
seemed embarrassed by failing to answer basic questions asked by the
judges regarding the details of the investigation and case, provoking
Lutsenko to critical remarks about the prosecutors’ professional
competence.
After 23 months in jail
Lutsenko, who was wearing an orange ribbon in memory of the Orange
Revolution, was energetically throwing jokes and emotional remarks
from his cage in the courtroom in his typical lively manner.
His final speech began by
greeting everyone with the anniversary of the Orange Revolution,
which took place eight years ago.
Instead of summing up
arguments in his defense, the former interior minister used the
opportunity to give an overview of the political situation in the
country, calling it a ‘gangster state,’ in which corrupt
officials use government offices and their connections for personal
enrichment.
He also outlined his
vision of the action plan for the opposition for the years to come.
“The system
(established by those in power) is continuing to pump money out of
the country,” he said.
He said the recent Oct. 28
parliamentary vote was falsified and put the blame on the
authorities, who deny such accusations.
“Yanukovych’s
bulldozer controls the present, but he lost control over the future,”
Lutsenko read from his notes.
The jailed politician
pointed out that Yanukovych and his Party of Regions are losing
public support in the country. Therefore, according to Lutsenko,
Yanukovych can be removed from the presidency in 2015 presidential
election, if the opposition can agree on a single opposition
candidate.
He also pointed out the
importance of drawing wide public support for these causes and the
need to change the rules of the games in Ukrainian politics for the
public good.
Kyiv Post staff
writer Yuriy Onyshkiv can be reached at [email protected]
