Brussels – President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Jean-Claude Mignon has welcomed the pardoning of former Interior Minister of Ukraine Yuriy Lutsenko by President Viktor Yanukovych.
“I warmly welcome the liberation of Mr. Lutsenko,” Mignon said in a statement posted on the Council of Europe’s Web site.
The PACE president noted that during his recent visit to Ukraine he had a long talk with Yanukovych, during which Mignon again expressed his position, and that of the Parliamentary Assembly, that the problem of imprisoned former government members needed to be swiftly resolved.
“I’m happy that this message was heard, and I hope that yesterday’s pardon is a clear sign of a turnaround in the Ukrainian authorities’ approach to dealing with those cases considered by PACE as arising from the selective application of justice,” the PACE president said.
Mignon called on the Ukrainian authorities to rapidly find a solution in line with the Council of Europe’s principles to the case of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, and to reform the legal system so that such cases do not recur.
