Court arrests ex-justice minister for two months

Kyiv's Pechersky District Court has ruled to select the measure of restraint for former Ukrainian Justice Minister Oleksandr Lavrynovych in the form of detention for 60 days.

Judge Oles Batryn announced such a ruling on Friday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"The court approved a petition on selecting the measure of restraint in the form of detention for a period of 60 days," Batryn said.

Lavrynovych told reporters after the court hearing that he was expecting "any decision."

The former justice minister is currently in the courtroom, since, according to the prosecutor, he has no right to leave after the decision was announced.

Lavrynovych was charged with seizing state power through a constitutional coup.

According to investigators, in 2010, then Justice Minister Lavrynovych gave the permission for the official publication of the constitution of the previous wording, which expanded the powers of the president. He did this bypassing the parliamentary vote. The prosecutor's office qualified this fact as seizure of power. The same suspicion was put forward to former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.

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