Yanukovych pardons Lutsenko

KYIV, April 8 /UKRINFORM/. President Viktor Yanukovych signed a decree to pardon former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko, who was sentenced to four years in prison, the president's press office said in a statement on Sunday, April 7.

In accordance with the decree of April 7, under the proposal of the Presidential Commission on Pardons, overall the head of state pardoned six prisoners: in particular, ex-Minister of Environmental Protection Heorhiy Filipchuk was released from the principal and additional sentences; Serhiy Vikulin and Iryna Voskanian, Oleksandr Riasenets - from serving their sentences; Dmytro Mohylevtsev - from serving the principal sentence.

As UKRINFORM reported, on Friday President Viktor Yanukovych received a petition of former Minister of Environmental Protection of Ukraine Heorhiy Filipchuk for pardon. In addition, Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Valeria Lutkovska appealed to the president with the request for a pardon of former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko.

On Saturday, the Presidential Commission for Pardons at its meeting decided to recommend that the President pardon Filipchuk and Lutsenko.

As UKRINFORM reported, on April 5, 2012, the Solomiansky District Court of Kyiv sentenced former Environment Minister Heorhiy Filipchuk to three years in prison, finding him guilty under Part 3, Article 365 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Filipchuk was convicted for abuse of office and power over the signing of an agreement with the AstapovLawyers law firm on the provision of consultations to the Environment Ministry during the consideration of a dispute at international law institutes regarding the cancellation of an agreement signed between the Ukrainian government and Vanco International Ltd. on the development of the Black Sea shelf. According to some media reports, the ex-minister's family transferred UAH 1.4 million to the state budget, offsetting the damage caused by the minister to the state.

A reminder that February 27, 2012 Kyiv's Pechersky District Court found Lutsenko guilty of committing official crimes and sentenced him to four years in prison. Kyiv's Court of Appeals upheld the verdict. August 17, 2012 Kyiv's Pechersky District Court also found the former minister guilty of negligence in continuing search operations against the driver Valentyn Davydenko of the former deputy chief of the Security Service of Ukraine Volodymyr Satsiuk and sentenced to two years in prison. The Court of Appeals upheld the verdict too.

On April 3, 2013 the Higher Specialized Court of Ukraine for Civil and Criminal Cases refused to change the sentence of former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko in the case on the employment of his driver and celebration of the Ukrainian Police Day.