Editor's Note: Experts say excessive pre-trial imprisonment is a major human rights problem in Ukraine, where suspects can be jailed for up to 18 months before trial.
Status of former Tymoshenko government officials
Yulia Tymoshenko, former prime minister.
Arrested on Aug. 5, Tymoshenko was convicted on Oct. 11 of harming the nation financially in the 2009 gas contracts she brokered with Russia as prime minister. She was sentenced to seven years in prison and is serving her time in Kachanivska penal colony in Kharkiv. She complains of poor health.
Yuriy Lutsenko, former interior minister.
Arrested in December 2010 for alleged misappropriation and misspending of state assets and abuse of office, Lutsenko was sentenced on Feb. 27 to four years in jail. He is imprisoned in Kyiv.
Valeriy Ivashchenko, former acting defense minister.
Arrested in August 2010, Ivashchenko was found guilty in April of abuse of office and sentenced to five years in jail. He appealed his conviction.
Viktor Bondar, former governor of Zaporizhia Oblast and former transportation minister, currently works in the Customs Service.
Under investigation on suspicion of exceeding authority, Bondar is banned from international travel.
Hryhoriy Filipchuk, former environment minister.
Arrested in December 2010, Filipchuk was convicted of abuse of office in April and sentenced to three years in prison.
Viktor Kolbun, former deputy Pension Fund board chairman.
Arrested in November on suspicion of exceeding authority, Kolbun’s case finally reached court in February 2011 and is still pending.
Mykola Petrenko, director of Ukrmedpostach.
Arrested in December 2010 on suspicion of embezzlement, the investigation of Petrenko is ongoing.
Tetyana Hrytsun, former state treasury deputy head.
Hrytsun was arrested in July 2010 on suspicion of abuse of office.
Vitaliy Nikitin, former acting head of the State Reserve Committee.
Arrested in January 2011 on suspicion of embezzlement, prosecutors have sent Nikitin’s case to court.
Mykola Sinkovskiy, former deputy head of the State Reserve Committee.
Sinkovskiy was sentenced in February 2010 to 10 years in prison for abuse of office.
Volodymyr Rabotnyov, former deputy transportation minister.
Charged with revealing state secrets, Rabotnyov remains under house arrest.
Tetiana Slyuz, former head of the State Treasury.
Charged with abuse of office, Slyuz is on a wanted list.
Ex-Naftogaz, ex-customs officials in jail
Former Naftogaz and State Customs officials have been jailed since last summer for their roles in ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s acquisition 11 billion cubic meters of natural gas from RosUkrEnergo, which regained the billions of dollars in gas after Tymoshenko left power.
Ihor Didenko, former deputy head of Naftogaz.
Arrested in July 2010 on suspicion of abuse of office, Didenko got a three-year suspended sentenced on Sept. 5, 2011.
Mariya Kushnir, former deputy director of the accounting department at Naftogaz Ukraine.
Accused of using her position to benefit third parties, Kushnir in 2010 was detained in Russia, where authorities agreed to extradite her to Ukraine.
Taras Shepitko, former deputy head of the Kyiv regional energy customs service office.
Arrested in July 2010 on suspicion of abuse of office and released from jail in July 2011, Shepitko is banned from international travel.
Anatoliy Makarenko, former Customs Service head.
Arrested in July 2010 on suspicion of abuse of office and released from jail in July 2011, Makarenko is also on a travel ban.
Party of Regions officials or associates
Tetyana Rud, head of the government’s price-control office.
Arrested in November 2010 on suspicion of bribery, Rud was found guilty of bribery and given a five-year suspended sentence.
Lyudmyla Kachurova, former head of Kyiv City Administration health.
Kachurova was arrested on bribery charges, released in January 2011, but remains under investigation.
Volodymyr Shcherbyna, former mayor of Alushta.
Arrested in October 2010 on suspicion of exceeding authority, Shcherbyna got a two-year suspended sentence.
Bohdan Presner, former deputy environment minister.
Arrested in June on suspicion of bribery, Presner was sentenced last October to nine years in prison.
Volodymyr Halytsky, former head of the State Employment Office.
Arrested last November on suspicion of bribery, the investigation of Halytsky is ongoing.
Serhiy Demishkan, son of Volodymyr Demishkan, a close associate of President Viktor Yanukovych and head of the state roadway service.
Accused by prosecutors of taking part in a brutal murder, Demishkan spent time in pre-trial detention but was released on bail in 2010. Last February, he along with his two co-conspirators were found guilty in kidnapping and murdering a man. The 41-year-old Demishkan confessed to the murder, but unlike his two accomplices, avoided prison sentence and remained free after getting a suspended sentence.
Opposition members in exile
Bohdan Danylyshyn, former economy minister.
Charged in August 2010 with abuse of office for allegedly approving two non-competitive tenders, Danylyshyn in January 2011 was granted asylum status in the Czech Republic where he still lives.
Mykhaylo Pozhyvanov, former head of the State Reserve Committee.
Charged with embezzling Hr 7 billion ($875 million), Pozhyvanov last year applied for asylum in Austria. He is still waiting for the decision while residing in Vienna.
Oleksandr Tymoshenko, husband of Yulia Tymoshenko.
Tymoshenko left Ukraine late last year and was granted asylum status in the Czech Republic in January, citing attempts to avoid prosecutors’ pressure on his wife through her family members and fears of being arrested at home upon return.
Others in jail
U.S. citizen Robert Fletcher
Arrested in Novembe, 2009 for alleged fraud, Fletcher is still waiting for trial while being kept in Kyiv’s Lukyanivska pre-detention center.
