The international non-governmental organization Freedom House has welcomed the pardoning of former Ukrainian Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko, and several other former officials by President Viktor Yanukovych, and is expecting the release of former Premier Yulia Tymoshenko.
“Freedom House welcomes the pardon of several former government officials in Ukraine, most prominently Yuriy Lutsenko, a Minister of Interior under former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, and former Minister of Ecology and Environment, Heorhiy Filipchuk. It calls on President Viktor Yanukovych to take similar action on Tymoshenko,” reads the statement posted on the organization’s Web site.
“Sunday’s pardon was an important first step by President Yanukovych. I’m glad to see Mr. Lutsenko, Mr. Filipchuk and others finally released. But Tymoshenko’s release is no less important,” President of Freedom House David J. Kramer said.
The president expressed the hope that the pardons on Sunday will soon be followed by the pardon of Tymoshenko “as part of a larger effort to put Ukraine back on a track to a democratic, European future.”
As reported, Yanukovych pardoned several convicts on April 7, among them Lutsenko and Filipchuk.
