The privacy of the meetings of former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko, who is serving a sentence in the Mena penal colony in Chernihiv region, is being respected, the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine reported on Monday, Sept. 10.
“According to the requirements of regulatory acts, the meetings of
prisoner Lutsenko with attorneys and defense lawyers are held in a room
for short meetings in the Mena colony. The procedure for equipping such
rooms is also stipulated by the requirements of regulatory acts. In
particular, such rooms are equipped with cabins separated by glass
partitions. The cabins have shelves with built-in intercommunication
devices (handsets). The confidentiality of the meetings that take place
in these rooms has not been violated,” reads the statement.
The penitentiary service also said statements by the defense team of
the ex-minister that he does not get correspondence are unfounded.
“The procedure for sending or receiving correspondence is also
regulated by the Criminal Executive Code of Ukraine and the internal
regulations of penal institutions. All appeals [that are made by
prisoners or come to prisoners] are recorded in the office of the penal
institution, and then they are sent [or transmitted] to recipients.
Accordingly, claims about the impossibility of transferring
correspondence to prisoner Lutsenko do not reflect reality,” reads the
document.
Earlier on Monday, Iryna Lutsenko, a defense lawyer and the wife of
the defendant, said that she could not have a private conversation with
her husband in the Mena prison.
“We again saw Lutsenko behind glass and heard his voice only by
phone,” she said, pointing to the violation of the rights of defense
lawyers and the prisoner.
