Ukrainian former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko has said he expects to prove his innocence during a jury trial.
"My defense and I have decided to use the right to a trial by jury, which is foreseen in the Constitution. I’m ready to prove my innocence before the court of my peers ready to listen and take an independent decision," he said in an interview with the Fokus weekly, the text of which was posted on the Focus Web site.
Lutsenko said: "Is it [a jury trial] possible or not? I often did the impossible. I’m ready to do again. And not just for myself. I believe such a trial can seriously undermine the current system of lawlessness in the country."
Lutsenko said his arrest "was an attempt to establish an atmosphere of general fear."
The former minister also said his relatives were not being summoned to the Prosecutor General’s Office anymore.
Lutsenko has been held in Lukyanivka jail since Dec. 26, 2010.
He was charged under Part 5, Article 191 (the large-scale embezzlement of state property through the abuse of office, under a preliminary collusion by a group of individuals), Part 3, Article 365 (the abuse of office, which led to grave consequences) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, and Part 3, Article 364 (the abuse of power and office by a law enforcer, which caused damage to citizens’ rights as protected by the law).
On Jan. 28, the pre-trail investigation into the criminal case against Lutsenko and three more former officials of the ministry evaluated the damage caused by them to the state at over Hr 970,000.
