Former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko was released from prison on Sunday, the same day when the president signed a decree pardoning him and five other prisoners, his lawyer said.
“I am very happy. Today is 833 days
since he was detained. Today is a very important day. He will be with
the family, will have a chance for [medical] treatment and will lead
a normal life,” said Ihor Fomin, Lutsenko’s lawyer.
Oles Doniy, a parliament member and member of Lutsenko’s political party, said that although it was clear Lutsenko’s release was in the works, the timing was unexpected.
“So, he’s now hanging around by the colony,” Doniy said. Other sources said he was waiting for the arrival of his wife Iryna in the office of the chief of Menska colony in Chernihiv region, where he was serving a four-year sentence. Several groups of people left Kyiv on Sunday morning to to meet Lutsenko, including his wife.
The release of Lutsenko was welcome by Stefan Fuele, the European Commissioner, for Enlargement, who wrote in his twitter: “At last, welcome very much President [Viktor] Yanukovych decision to pardon Lutsenko and (Former Environment Minister Heorhiy) Filipchuk.”
Fuele called the president’s pardon ” a first but important step to deal with selective justice.”
But the nation’s top political prisoner, former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, remains in prison. She was convicted for abuse of office, and is facing murder charges in an ongoing trial.
Doniy, the parliament deputy, said she was unlikely to come out of prison any time soon. “Expecting that Yulia (Tymoshenko) is released is unrealistic, because she is dangerous. Lutsenko is not a competitor,” he said.
Doniy said Lutsenko is also banned by court from taking state jobs for two years, or taking part in election campaigns, including parliamentary and presidential ones. He says Lutsenko’s health is weak anyway, and “he will probably need to take half a year or so to restore it.”
The State Penitentiary Service said earlier on Sunday that all six convicts pardoned by the
president have already been released.
“The decree was fully executed, all
convicts released from serving their sentence, all necessary measures
were taken, all necessary settlements have been made, the rights
explained and the necessary aid is given,” the Penitentiary service said in a statement.
Ukrainian
President Viktor Yanukovych has been under pressure from the
European Union to ease up on political persecution if he hopes for
political and economic integration with the West.
His press service
said on Sunday that the move to release the prisoners comes because of the need to “reform criminal and criminal
procedural legislation aimed at humanization of laws and reduction of
the number of people who are kept in prison.”
Ukraine’s
Ombudswoman for Human Rights Valeriya Lutkovska appealed to the president on Friday, asking to pardon Lutsenko. The appeal came just a few days
after the High Specialized Court of Ukraine upheld Lutsenko’s earlier
sentence of four years in prison. A ruling by the Kyiv Pechersk
District Court in 2012 sentenced him for exceeding his authority as a
minister.
He is facing another appeal on April 10 in the case of his failure to
investigate the poisoning of former President Viktor Yushchenko while
he served as interior minister.
Lutsenko’s
lawyer Fomin says Lutsenko will still challenge all his verdicts in
the European Court for Human Rights until they are all canceled.
