Ukraine’s former Justice Minister Olena Lukash was released from house arrest on Dec. 28 after Kyiv’s Solomyansky District Court ruled not to extend her detention any further, Lukash’s lawyer Andriy Smirnov has said on Dec. 29.
Smirnov said the former minster is no longer wearing an
electronic tracking bracelet. She has had her passport returned to her, along
with her bail money, and is now free to travel in Ukraine and abroad.
Smirnov
said the National
anti-corruption bureau
had failed to
provide the
court with arguments substantial enough to keep Lukash under house arrest. By
the time this story was published, the Ukrainian Anti-corruption Prosecutor’s Office
had not responded to the Kyiv Post’s request for comment. The Anti-corruption
Prosecutor
oversees the
observance of legislation during pre-trial investigations carried
out by the Anti-corruption
Bureau of
Ukraine.
Lukash had been a key associate of former ousted President
Victor Yanukovych since the 2004 Orange Revolution. She was among the main
legal figures in his inner circle that created and constructed legal paths for Yanukovych
to exert a stronger grip on the parliament, the government and the judiciary in
2010. In particular, as deputy head of Presidential Administration in 2010, she
supported the decision of the Constitutional Court to change the constitution that
gave then President Yanukovych more powers.
In 2012, Yanukovych appointed her as a representative of the
Presidential Administration on the Constitutional Court.
Earlier, in November, The General Prosecutor’s Office
charged Lukash with embezzling Hr 2.5 million in government funds and document
forgery when as justice minister in 2013 she conducted procurement to outsource
studies on bringing Ukrainian laws into line with EU legislation. She
denies any wrongdoing. If found guilty, she would face up to twelve years in
prison.
But
political analyst Taras Berezovets is skeptical that Lukash will ever be found
guilty. “She is one of the most odious Yanukovych-era politicians. She stood behind
many revolting political decisions, including constitutional changes,”
Berezovets told the Kyiv Post. “(However,) I think that she’s already got rid
of all the (incriminating) evidence against herself. If she’d known she might be
arrested, she wouldn’t have come back to Ukraine.”
Lukash was arrested in Ukraine on Nov. 5 but was released on
bail a few days later, although she was banned from travelling. She has been on
the EU sanctions list since 2014, along with a number of other former
government officials. Berezovets said the EU would lift its sanctions against
Lukash if Ukraine does not prosecute her.
Oleksiy
Melnyk, the co-director
and head of foreign relations and international security programs at the
Razumkov Center think tank, also believes Lukash will not end up behind bars.
Bureaucracy and corruption are the main reasons why Yanukovych-era politicians
are allowed to escape justice, he says. “Bureaucracy is one aspect of the
problem. Another aspect is that until now there are still people in top
positions in the country who are working for money they were paid to lobby for
the interests of former officials,” Melnyk told the Kyiv
Post.
Kyiv Post staff writer
Nataliya Trach can be reached at [email protected]
