Former Interior Minister and leader of the People's Self-Defense Yuriy Lutsenko filed a motion with the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office requesting a trial by jury, the press service of the People's Self-Defense reported on Monday.
"According to the Constitution, the right of direct participation in the administration of justice is the inalienable right of the people of Ukraine, and the possibility to choose a fair court is the right of each person. I, Yuriy Lutsenko, have the right for [my] criminal case to be considered by a fair, unbiased and independent court, as established by the law. This law is the Constitution of Ukraine, which has the higher lawful force, and under the regulations of Articles 124, 127, 129, legal proceedings in Ukraine are carried out by the trial jury," reads the text of the minister’s motion.
As reported, Lutsenko has been held in jail since December 26, 2010. He has been charged under Part 5, Article 191 (large-scale embezzlement of state property through the abuse of office, under a preliminary collusion by a group of individuals), Part 3, Article 365 (abuse of office, which led to grave consequences), and Part 3, Article 364 (the abuse of power and office by a law enforcer, which caused damage to citizens’ rights as protected by the law) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
On January 28, the pre-trail investigation into the criminal case against Lutsenko and three more former officials of the ministry evaluated the losses caused by them to the state at over UAH 970,000.
Kyiv Court of Appeals on April 22 extended Lutsenko’s arrest until May 26, and after that he announced his intention to go on hunger strike from April 22.
On April 28, the former minister, in a letter to leadership of Kyiv pretrial detention center, declared his intention to go on hunger strike. At present Lutsenko is in the Kyiv city clinical emergency hospital, where he was transferred from the medical unit of the pretrial detention center.
