You're reading: The European Court ruling on Lutsenko case takes effect

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has upheld its ruling on the case of former Ukrainian Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko by rejecting the Ukrainian government's request to the Grand Chamber to revise the ruling. 

“At the last sitting on Nov. 19, at a meeting of a five-judge panel of the Grand Chamber, a decision was made to reject the further consideration of 17 cases,” reads a statement of the ECHR’s press service. Lutsenko’s case was mentioned as being among the abovementioned 17 cases.

The press service told Interfax-Ukraine that the Ukrainian government’s request to pass the case from the Grand Chamber to the ECHR was rejected, and the ruling dated July 3 has taken effect.

As reported, on July 3, 2012, the ECHR issued a ruling declaring that the arrest of Lutsenko was a violation of his human rights. Moreover, the court ordered the Ukrainian government to pay EUR 15,000 to the ex-minister as compensation for moral damages.

On Oct. 1, 2012, the government filed a motion to review the ECHR decision in the Lutsenko versus Ukraine case. The Ukrainian government referred to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms dated Nov.  4, 1950 in the motion.

Lutsenko was arrested on Dec. 26, 2010. He had been held at Kyiv’s pre-trial detention center since then. The ex-minister’s defense team appealed against Lutsenko’s arrest to the ECHR.

Kyiv’s Pechersky District Court found Lutsenko guilty of a number of counts of abuse of office and sentenced him to four years in prison on Feb. 27, 2012. On Aug. 31, 2012, he was taken to the penitentiary in Chernihiv region.

Lutsenko was also charged with the extension of an investigative case concerning Valentyn Davydenko, the driver of former SBU First Deputy Chief Volodymyr Satsiuk, as part of an investigation into the poisoning of then presidential candidate Viktor Yuschenko on Aug. 17, 2012 by Pechersky Court. The court sentenced Lutsenko to two years in prison.