US court reduces prison sentence for ex-Ukrainian premier
Court;s decision cut Lazarenko's sentence from 108 to 97 months in prison.

US court reduces prison sentence for ex-Ukrainian premier

Nov 19, 2009 at 10:54 | Interfax-Ukraine
The U.S. District Court has reduced by 11 months the nine-year prison sentence for former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko convicted in the United States of corruption in Ukraine, the U.S. media have reported.

U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer took a decision cutting Lazarenko's sentence from 108 to 97 months in prison.

As reported, Lazarenko is convicted of embezzling funds illegally received and transferred to foreign accounts in 1994-1999. In 2004, a U.S. court had dismissed a number of charges against Lazarenko, including all counts related to the corporation Unified Energy System of Ukraine, which had earlier been headed by Yulia Tymoshenko, and all charges related to the energy provider Itera. The official indictment retained the fraud charges related to the Naukova agricultural company and the extortion charges related to businessman Petro Kyrychenko's testimony.

A Californian court sentenced Lazarenko to nine years in prison in August 2006. He stayed in his apartment in San Francisco under house arrest pending the consideration of the appeal against his conviction.

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