While Ukraine’s embattled opposition is fighting in courts to get its leaders running for parliament in the Oct. 28 election on the United Opposition ticket, one of them – Yuriy Lutsenko – might get another conviction as early as this week.
The Pechersk district court of Kyiv will announce its verdict on Aug. 17
in the case where former Interior Minister is accused of negligence. The prosecutors
claimed during an Aug. 10 hearing that Lutsenko displayed professional
negligence when extending surveillance while investigating the 2004 poisoning
of Viktor Yushchenko, who served as president in 2005-2010.
The prosecutors claimed that Lutsenko deserves a 2.5-year prison
sentence for the alleged crime. Lutsenko himself said the case was “a political
vendetta” while speaking in court.
He and jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko have repeatedly accused
President Viktor Yanukovych of sidelining them from politics through
politically motivated trials. The U.S. and European Union have also described
concern, describing both cases as politically motivated while warning
Yanukovych’s administration that a rollback on democracy could test bilateral
relations.
Last month, the European Court for Human Rights ruled that Lutsenko’s arrest was political persecution and
ordered Ukraine to pay a compensation of 15,000 euro.
Lutsenko was sentenced to four years in prison this February by the Pechersk
court for embezzlement and abuse of office in a trial he calls political. Last
month, he was included in the United Opposition’s party list to run for
parliament this fall, along with Tymoshenko, currently also in prison for abuse
of office.
The U.S. and European Union have urged Ukraine to release Lutsenko,
Tymoshenko and other jailed opposition leaders, allowing them to take part in the
upcoming election.
But Ukraine’s Central Election Commission refused to register both as
candidates last week, claiming that the Constitution bans anyone with a
conviction from serving in parliament. The opposition is battling the decision
in courts, arguing that registration of convicted people is still permitted by
law.
The opposition only has the High Court left to rule on registration,
though. The law gives the highest court three days to decide on the case,
according to Oleksandr Turchynov, one of the leaders of the opposition. He
intends to file the appeal on Aug. 13.
In the meantime, the Aug. 10 hearing of Lutsenko’s negligence case
looked more like a show, according to numerous media reports. “If you want to
have a show-style hearing, you will get a worthy partner in my person,”
Lutsenko was quoted by his party’s website as telling the judge.
Lutsenko’s defense claims that there was not a single witness who could
testify to prove negligence.
“The court has two options: either to recognize that the prosecution is
lying, or recognize that the defense is talking the truth,” Lutsenko said.
Prosecutors accuse Lutsenko of illegally extending the surveillance of
the driver of Volodymyr Satsiuk, a former deputy head of Ukraine’s Security
Service. Satsiuk was present at the dinner with Yushchenko in September 2004,
which is when Yushchenko claims his poisoning allegedly took place several
weeks ahead of the contested 2004 presidential election.
According to prosecutors, by extending the surveillance, Lutsenko
violated the driver’s rights. Yet, the driver in his letter to the court said
that he does not consider himself a victim, and asked to not be called to court
again.
The ex-top com remains in Kyiv’s Lukyanivka pre-trial detention center
since he was arrested on Dec. 26, 2010 and is not due to come out of prison
until the end of 2014. He’s appealing the verdict.
