You're reading: Batkivschyna prepares updated list of persons involved in political repressions

The surname of a judge of the Mena District Court in Chernihiv region, who has not released former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko from prison due to an illness, will be added to the list of persons involved in political repressions, the press service of the Batkivschyna Party reported on Tuesday.

“An ordered decision of the Mena District Court in Chernihiv region,
which declined to terminate the punishment [for Lutsenko] for health
reasons, is, in fact, the judicial legalization of torture with respect
to a political opponent of the current government,” the press service
said.

Batkivschyna also added: “This court decision was made on the direct
orders of President [Viktor] Yanukovych… Judge Oleksandr Savchenko
executed the order and was an accomplice in a crime against the rights
and freedoms of a well-known opposition member. The surname of the judge
will be added to the list of persons involved in political repressions,
human rights violations in Ukraine and electoral fraud.”

The statement also notes that the updated list will be transferred to
European and international institutions and governments of democratic
countries “to study the issue of the use of personal sanctions against
persons included in this list, including as part of the Magnitsky Act
that was recently adopted in the United States.”

On December 24, Mena Penal Colony hosted a visiting session of the
Mena District Court, which considered a petition lodged by Lutsenko’s
lawyer regarding the release of the former interior minister from prison
due to an illness. Judge Savchenko found no grounds to release
Lutsenko.