Kyiv Court of Appeals has started the preliminary hearing of an appeal of former Ukrainian Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko and his defense lawyer against a ruling of Pechersky District Court of Kyiv, which sentenced the ex-minister to four years of imprisonment.
Lutsenko has been delivered to the court, an Interfax-Ukraine reporter said. Journalists are allowed to watch the hearing broadcast in a conference hall in another building.
As reported, Kyiv’s Pechersky District Court found Lutsenko guilty of official crimes, sentenced him to four years in prison and banned him from holding public posts for three years.
The court then passed a three-year suspended sentence on Lutsenko’s driver, Leonid Prystupliuk, with the confiscation of his property. The court also put a travel ban on Prystupliuk and stripped him of his police rank.
In addition, the court also ordered the recovery of UAH 293,000 from Lutsenko and Prystupliuk, and UAH 643,000 from the ex-minister alone.
Lutsenko will have to serve two years and ten months in prison on top of the year and two months that the ex-minister has already spent in the pre-trial detention centre.
Lutsenko was detained on December 26, 2010. The ex-minister was charged with committing crimes under Part 5, Article 191 of the Criminal Code (misappropriation of property on a large scale through abuse of office, with preliminary collusion with a group of individuals) and Part 3, Article 365 of the Criminal Code (abuse of power that entailed grave consequences).
The Prosecutor General’s Office also accused the former interior minister of misusing budget funds that were allocated for the celebration of Police Day at the Ukraine National Arts Palace in 2008-2009.
Kyiv Court of Appeals will consider Lutsenko’s appeal on May 15.
