Former First Deputy Justice Minister Yevhen Korniychuk and ex-Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko will soon appeal to the European Court of Human Rights against their arrest, their lawyer says.
"We will try to prepare an appeal within two or three days… against the unlawful arrest of Lutsenko and Korniychuk," Ihor Fomin, the lawyer of the arrested officials, told journalists in Kyiv on Thursday after a sitting of the Appeals Court, which rejected a complaint by Korniychuk against his detention.
As reported, Korniychuk was detained on December 22 after being questioned at the Prosecutor General’s Office. The press service of the Prosecutor General’s Office said that a criminal case had been opened against him under part 3, Article 365 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (the abuse of office, which entailed serious consequences).
The court first rejected the request to arrest Korniychuk for two months, but then decided to extend his detention to ten days. On December 30, Pechersky District Court of Kyiv ordered Korniychuk to be arrested for two months and he was transferred to a Kyiv detention facility.
Lutsenko was detained on December 26 near his house. On December 27, Pechersky District Court of Kyiv ordered him to be jailed for two months and Lutsenko was moved from a Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) prison to Lukianivka Prison No. 13. According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, Lutsenko is 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) and part 3, Article 365 (the abuse of office, which led to grave consequences) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
