Investigators of the Prosecutor General's Office, who dealt with a criminal case opened against former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko, have said that the ex-minister partially admitted his guilt and regard this as mitigating circumstances, Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka has said.
He said at a press conference in Dnipropetrovsk on Friday that these mitigating circumstances allow the prosecution to ask the court to sentence Lutsenko to four-and-a-half years in prison, instead of the seven years envisaged by the Criminal Code article under which he was charged.
"The prosecutors have found it possible to commute the punishment under the following mitigating circumstances: that he is the father of a child and that he partially admitted his guilt," Pshonka said.
Lutsenko has repeatedly stated earlier that he does not admit his guilt for the alleged offences and said that none of the charges brought against him had been proved.
In particular, while speaking at the court debates on Wednesday, he said: "I don’t need pity, and I’m not asking even the court for anything… Yes, I don’t repent, and I don’t see that I committed any crime. I have nothing to repent for."
On Feb. 14, prosecutors asked the court to sentence Lutsenko to four years and six months in prison with the confiscation of property.
The prosecutors also asked the court to impose a fine of Hr 293,000 against Lutsenko, deprive him of the right to hold public office for three years, and deprive him of the rank of a civil servant.
Given the fact that Lutsenko has already been in jail for one year and two months, this period should be included in the sentence.
Thus, if the court supports the initiative of the state prosecution, the former minister will be in jail for three years and four months.
Lutsenko was detained on Dec. 26, 2010. The ex-minister was charged with committing crimes envisaged by Part 5, Article 191 of the Criminal Code (taking possession of property in a large scale through abuse of office, by preliminary collusion with a group of individuals) and Part 3, Article 365 of the Criminal Code (abuse of power that entailed grave consequences).
The essence of the charges lies in the fact that Lutsenko, while serving as interior minister, allegedly facilitated the accrual of an illegal pension to his driver, Prystupliuk, the allocation of housing to him, as well as his inclusion in the operational services department.
Another episode of charges concerns the extension of an investigative case concerning the driver of former SBU First Deputy Chief Volodymyr Satsiuk as part of an investigation into the poisoning of then presidential candidate Viktor Yuschenko.
The Prosecutor General’s Office also accused the former interior minister of misusing budget funds that were allocated for the celebration of Police Day at the Ukraina National Arts Palace in 2008-2009.
