The European Union has welcomed the pardoning of Ukraine's former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko and former Environmental Protection Minister Heorhiy Filipchuk and has urged Kyiv to continue addressing the cases of selective justice.
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton and EU Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy Stefan Fuele said this in a statement issued on April 7.
“We salute President Yanukovych exercising his prerogative of pardoning in the cases of former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko and former Environmental Protection Minister Heorhiy Filipchuk. We welcome the release from prison and return to his family of Mr. Lutsenko on Sunday. This in an important step by the Ukrainian authorities in addressing the concerns regarding the matter of selective justice,” the statement reads.
Ashton and Fule praised the important contribution the European Parliament’s monitoring mission to Ukraine headed by ex-president of the European Parliament Pat Cox and former president of Poland Aleksander Kwasniewski made in this context.
“We now look forward to Ukraine addressing without further delay the outstanding case of selective justice and preventing any recurrence of selective justice by a comprehensive judicial reform in line with European standards, in order to fully implement the conclusions of the Dec. 10, 2012 Foreign Affairs Council and the joint statement of the Feb. 25, 2013 EU-Ukraine Summit,” the EU officials said in their statement.
