Q&A with jailed former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko about the charges he’s facing, which he describes as politically motivated and ordered by President Viktor Yanukovych.
In an interview with the Kyiv Post and Glavred, ex-Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko – jailed since December on charges of overpaying his former official driver and other alleged misspending of the state budget – talked about the charges he is facing, which he describes as politically motivated and ordered by President Viktor Yanukovych. Below are excerpts:
Kyiv Post: In your opinion, who gave the order to arrest you?
Yuriy Lutsenko: There are more than enough political prisoners here in Lukiyanivka [pre-trial detention jail]. So, there is one answer to that – this is the result of orders from the very top.
KP: Do you think that your arrest may be a tool to pressure ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko?
YL: My arrest is part of the campaign to intimidate the opposition. This campaign serves two purposes: first, to demonstrate that cooperation with Yulia Tymoshenko virtually equals arrest and, therefore, they want to “scorch the land” around the main opponents of the regime; second, to intimidate society and establish a climate of fear.
The most absurd reasons are consciously used for persecution – a car purchase for rural medical services, a letter of appeal to the Cabinet, customs clearance of natural gas based on an international agreement, damaging of pavement on Independence Square, etc.
KP: Do you keep in touch with Tymoshenko or her circle?
YL: Yes, I am trying to keep in touch with opposition leaders. I am sincerely grateful for the solidarity and support to lawmakers Vyacheslav Kyrylenko, Anatoly Hrytsenko and ex Prime-Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, opposition lawmakers and most importantly – to thousands of Ukrainians.
KP: Ex-President Viktor Yushchenko does not say much about charges against you. Did he try to get in touch with you?
YL: He betrayed Maidan and the people of Maidan [during the 2004 Orange Revolution that led to Yushchenko’s election]. Then he sold Ukraine and us as ‘stuffing’ to Yanukovych, whom he brought to power.
KP: Do you regret not taking advantage of an opportunity to seek political asylum abroad?
YL: Politicians and my colleagues from the Interior Ministry told me that it is useless in the current situation to solely rely on law. But running away is not for me. Yes, I heard the Prosecutor General saying that he is as a member of the team [and will] fulfill the president’s orders. But I will not escape my country! Being oppositionist is a test for a politician.
KP: What are your conditions of detention?
YL: Conditions are standard. It’s a maximum security prison. It is 9 square meters, iron bunks, concrete floor, brick table and chair. Every day, I walk in a 9-meter courtyard and have morning drills. There is a TV set and a lot of reading. We use a kettle for cooking. I have no complaints. Everyone is detained in such conditions. My two year army experience helped me easily get used to that.
The only problem is anxiety about my family, especially for my son who was summoned for questioning to the General Prosecutor’s Office and the criminal cases against family members of the Supreme Court Chief Justice Vasyl Onopenko.
KP: In your opinion, when will you be released from detention?
YL: There was no basis to arrest me. But in today’s Ukraine a pessimist is a well-informed realist.
KP: When, in your estimation, will your case be passed on to court?
YL: It is difficult to say exactly.
KP: What kinds of investigations regarding the charges against you are under way?
YL: On Jan. 25-26, the pre-trial investigation suddenly intensified and in less than four hours was completed. I was presented the resolutions and was asked about ‘illegal militia day celebrations in 2008 and 2009.’ Of course, nobody is interested to hear that not a penny from the state budget was spent on those celebrations.
Obviously, this enchanting episode was supposed to justify my months in jail without any investigation since I was detained on Dec. 26. If they consider the conduct of official celebrations during a national holiday to hear the speeches of a president, prime minister and the parliament speaker power abuse with a threat of 12 years imprisonment, then what sentence should be given for the last decision of parliament to extend their and their president’s terms in power?
KP: What would you say about professionalism of the investigators?
YL: Investigators are trying hard. Lack of evidence is replaced with pressure on witnesses and members of my family.
KP: Are you regularly given permission for face-to-face meetings with your lawyer?
YL: I sent a statement to the Prosecutor General that on Jan. 25 for seven hours I was refused consultation with my lawyer, and my lawyer was not allowed to file petitions. During that and the following day, I was for 20 hours deprived of food and water. The same day I was told about my son being summoned for questioning, and absolutely “accidentally,” I was offered to admit my guilt.
All that gave me reason to ask the General Prosecutor to dismiss the head of the investigative group. However, I received no response from Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka.
KP: Was Ukrainian billionaire Rinat Akhmetov ever registered as a member or leader of organized crime group in the Interior Ministry database?
(Editor’s Note: In 2005, Serhiy Kornich, then head of the Interior Ministry’s economic crimes department under Lutsenko as minister, was quoted by Russian daily Kommersant and other journalists as saying that Akhmetov was “the head of [an] organized crime group.” Akhmetov has denied such allegations.)
YL: I am ready to provide you with materials on organized crime in the Donbass region. That is now well represented in the highest echelons of the Ukrainian authorities. The situation there and in the Crimea in 2005 was very disturbing. In these two regions, the number of unsolved murders was two times more that the per capita “norm” and amounted to 2,000 killed people.
Much was done [to solve it]. Due to the elimination or neutralization of previously untouchable organized criminal groups in 2005, for the first time in the history of independence, murder figures started to drop by 7-9 per cent annually.
However, many leaders of organized criminal gangs escaped justice. First of all, they thank the leadership of the Prosecutor General’s Office, which was then headed by a current lawmaker from the Party of Regions. A good example – ignoring evidence collected by the Interior Ministry on the Nemsadze gang in Donetsk Oblast (57 deaths) and “Salem” in Crimea (50 deaths).
The detention of “Meli” and arresting dozens of militants from the “Givi” group caused my dismissal in 2006. Hundreds of cases were simply closed by the prosecutor’s office due to the Yushchenko and Yanukovych memorandum that in 2005 granted immunity status to deputies in local councils. At the time of my second coming to the Interior Ministry, I witnessed most of those [involved in organized crime] becoming parliament lawmakers. No wonder they are now so happy about “the case against Lutsenko.”
In addition to the above reasons of my arrest, of course, there is also a motive of revenge for earlier experienced fear. Once in power, they demonstrate their rules in politics – either come to terms with us or prepare for punishment. Society, however, should make a different conclusion formulated by Ukrainian poet and writer Lina Kostenko: “Unpunished evil regenerates itself.”
Kyiv Post staff writer Yuriy Onyshkiv can be reached at [email protected]
