Editor's Note: What follows is an unofficial translation of a letter from prison by former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko released on Jan. 27. Lutsenko is charged with overpaying his driver and mishandling the investigation of former President Viktor Yushchenko's poisoning. State prosecutors on Jan. 26 also said they are mulling charges against him for allegedly illegally spending budget funds in 2008 and 2009 to mark Militia Day.
Today marks the end of a month that I have spent in pre-trial confinement. It’s remarkable that, allegedly, the reason for my arrest was because I read the case against me too slowly. But during the course of the last 30 days prosecutors have not presented me with one page of my indictment and not conducted taken any investigative activities relating to the criminal case being drawn up against me.
The approach does not surprise me. It was clear from the beginning that the so-called case involving my driver was not criminal, but political in nature. This was also clear to everyone who attended court hearings, during which my petition to be released pending trial was denied.
According to law, the only reason to keep me behind bars is violating travel restrictions stipulated by prosecutors, that is flight. What can I, was who arrested by my place of residence, be accused of? Refusing to acknowledge guilt and give testimony? These are my constitutional rights. The demand by prosecutors for my continued incarceration for exercising my constitutional rights is an interesting sign of the times.
But there is a third reason: Lutsenko publicly comments on the case and give interviews. How can such impudent behavior be stopped? By arresting Lutsenko and putting him in a cell in Kyiv’s Lukyanivskiy pre-trial confinement facility. The Party [of Regions] said, “Yes! It’s necessary,” and Kyiv’s Pechersk Court said, “Yes, Sir!”
This is how it is today with Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office, where investigators aren’t satisfied by cynically violating laws in their trumped-up cases and so-called criminal investigations. They want a three-ring circus! That’s why they charged me before my birthday and the New Year’s holiday.
My one month anniversary in a prison cell coincided with another remarkable development. I could not fully foresee the moral degeneracy of the General Prosecutor’s Office, which recently also called in my 20-year old son Sasha for questioning. They are trying to incriminate him for threatening an investigator during bail hearings twenty days ago [on Jan. 5, 2011 in Kyiv’s Court of Appeals]. That many and various uncomplimentary comments addressed to prosecutors were uttered in the court chamber is a fact. How could it be any different? [Investigator] Voychenko must know: If you take even one step with the current authorities, you’re bound to wind up in shit. But for the prosecutor’s office to even contemplate persecuting my son is beyond despicable.
The prosecutor’s office has not forgotten about me. After the absurd “driver conspiracy” charge and an enchanting episode involving the Yushchenko poisoning case, I’ve now been accused of illegally celebrating Police Day in 2008 and 2009!
I won’t go into how on Jan. 25 I spent seven hours in the prosecutor’s office without any reason, or how I was handcuffed to a policeman for 9 hours without food and water and denied access to my lawyer. No one would be surprised. But even in our country, where the deputy prosecutor general authorizes the release of murderers during between refrains of “Murka” [criminal song] the fable about my new “crime” is amazing. Judge for yourself.
Ukraine’s former interior minister, who authorized Militia Day festivities in 2008 and 2009 program, "criminally planned" the speeches of the president, prime minister and parliament speaker, who summarized the performance of the Interior Ministry, set new tasks and handed out awards. Why? Because, it turns out the October 2008 event was provided for by a Cabinet resolution. The explanation that budget funds were used to pay for the celebration, which was covered by media and attended by senior officials and foreign guests, does not absolve me of guilt. Prosecutors have even calculated damages caused to the state, including the cost of awards and flowers widows of policemen, as well as the cost of funeral services for Chernobyl veterans, paid out by the Interior Ministry during early 2009!
How was it possible to explain the police heads of Russia, Georgia, Poland, Belarus, Moldova, Slovakia, and Romania, that by laying wreaths to the monument to dead militiamen and taking part meetings at the Interior Ministry they were, in fact, unwitting accomplices of a criminal plan devised by Lutsenko to embezzle funds from Ukraine’s state budget? What would the world think of us, especially Belarus, whose acting Interior Ministry chief was promoted minister just so he could take part in the official ceremonies? Most importantly, how can we explain “the illegal celebration” to 300,000 Ukrainian acting militiamen and 500,000 retired policemen?
I don’t know how to explain that the commemoration of the event by the president, prime minister and parliament speaker. But, using the same convoluted logic, I know that it’s possible to make the same charges against the heads of the Prosecutor General’s Office, Security Service (SBU) and two presidents who, without the permission of investigator Voychenko, celebrated Independence Day on Khreshchatyk St. in Kyiv.
I understand that my irony is rhetorical. There are many explanations why I could not stop the Horde during my tenure as interior minister. Now it’s time for [the current authorities] to act.
Everything is perfectly clear. These are not criminal activities I am being charged with. It’s pure political retribution. Investigators tell me: “Give testimony that the order to celebrate Militia Day was given by Tymoshenko and we will you make a witness in the case.” Investigators are already hinting to me that there are more comfortable cells than those reserved for hardened criminals. They say, “You have a family. Why are you thinking only about yourself?”
I am not trying to behave like a hero and don’t expect applause from people who have been tamed by fear and remorse. I simply know that now is the time for each person to defend their principles and stand up for the Ukraine they believe in. I spit on the criminal charges being brought against me. I have two sons, whom the authorities already fear.
Yuriy Lutsenko
p.s. I am sincerely grateful to all those who have supported me and my family during this difficult time.
27.01.11
