You're reading: Lutsenko’s lawyer doubts his client will be released soon

If the authorities wanted to release Lutsenko, they would behave completely differently, lawyer of Ukraine's ex-interior minister Yuriy Lutsenko, Oleksiy Bahanets, has said live on Channel Five.

“If the authorities assumed the release of Yuriy Lutsenko was possible according to the law, not waiting for a decision of the European court, it could have been done at the Chernihiv Court of Appeals, when our motion on Lutsenko’s release because of his health was considered. It could be done as well at the Higher Specialized Court, when it considers our two appeals, I stress, on two verdicts of the court. Do the authorities think they can use this chance to change Lutsenko’s punishment to another sentence? They wouldn’t schedule two appeals two days apart, on April 2 and April 4. That’s why I don’t believe in this development of events,” the press service of the Channel Five quotes the lawyer as saying.