Defense lawyers appeal Lutsenko verdict

The defense lawyers for Ukraine's ex-interior minister Yuriy Lutsenko have appealed the sentence, passed on their client.

The chance is very slim that Lutsenko will be acquitted and freed, as he will never plead guilty, partially or fully, to say nothing to accepting claims that the case opened against him was not politically motivated, one of the defense lawyers, Oleksiy Bahanets, told Interfax-Ukraine.

Anyway, the ruling to be passed by the Court of Appeals could be used to file a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights, he said.

Pechersky District Court in Kyiv on February 27 2012 found Lutsenko guilty of abuse of office and sentenced him to four years in jail. A court of appeals in Kyiv on May 16 upheld this verdict.

Lutsenko's defense lawyers had earlier appealed the ex-minister's arrest with the ECHR, and the ECHR said the arrest on July 3 violated Lutsenko's rights and obliged Ukraine to pay 15,000 euros in damages to Lutsenko.

Meanwhile, the episode in the case, connected with the driver of former first deputy head of the Ukrainian Security Council Volodymyr Satsiuk within the framework of the inquiry into the alleged poisoning of the then presidential candidate Viktor Yuschenko, will be dealt with separately and the hearings are continuing. Pechersky District Court will pronounce its verdict on it on August 17.