People's Self-Defense launches petition for Lutsenko's release

The People’s Self-Defense Party has called on Ukrainian citizens to give a vote of support for the party's leader and former interior minister, Yuriy Lutsenko, and add their signature to a letter demanding Lutsenko's immediate release from custody. "This will be a personal protest by each of us against the establishment of a dictatorship of Ukraine… This will be your minimum participation in politics: a public expression of your disagreement with the actions of the authorities," reads a report posted on the official Web site of People’s Self-Defense on Friday.

A section entitled "Support Lutsenko!" has been created on the party's Web site. Those who wish can write a letter to the former minister, which will be given to him and posted on the Web site.

Lutsenko was detained on December 26 near his house. On December 27, the Pechersky District Court of Kyiv ordered him to be jailed for two months due to the fact that "the accused did not come to the investigator, grossly violating the demands envisaged by a travel ban." Lutsenko was moved from a Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) prison to Lukianivka Prison No. 13.

In the near future, Lutsenko plans to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights regarding the illegality of his arrest