You're reading: Strasbourg court raps Ukraine over Tymoshenko ally

STRASBOURG, France - The European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday condemned Ukraine for the 2010 pre-trial detention of a former interior minister and ally of jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko, saying it had run counter to the "concept of a fair trial".

Yuri Lutsenko, 47, a member of opposition party Narodna
Samooborona (People’s Self Defence), was sentenced to four years
in prison in February for embezzlement and abuse of office while
he was in government.

He, like Tymoshenko who is serving seven years for abuse of
office as prime minister, has denied the charges which he says
are politically engineered by President Viktor Yanukovich.

The ECHR ordered Ukraine to pay 15,000 euros in damages to
Lutsenko.

The Strasbourg-based court did not deliver a finding on the
outcome of Lutsenko’s trial itself and its verdict was largely
symbolic since Lutsenko has since been sentenced.

But it will be an uncomfortable reminder to Yanukovich of
the European Union’s view that Tymoshenko and allies such as
Lutsenko are the victims of politically-motivated prosecutions.

Lutsenko, who served twice in governments headed by
Tymoshenko, is the highest-profile political detainee in the
ex-Soviet republic after Tymoshenko herself.

Tymoshenko, 51, who is serving her sentence in the eastern
city of Kharkiv, is appealing against her conviction. Her
lawyers have said they will take the same course as Lutsenko and
turn to the Strasbourg court once all their appeals against her
conviction have been exhausted.

The ECHR ruled that Lutsenko’s arrest in December 2010 had
been arbitrary, that he had not been informed of the reasons for
his detention and that no valid reasons had been given for
keeping him in jail in the run-up to his trial.

His failure to admit his guilt had been used as grounds for
his pre-trial detention which “ran contrary to the elements
which made up the concept of a fair trial”, the ECHR said.

“The fact that the Ukrainian courts had relied on those
grounds was disturbing, as it indicated that a person might be
punished for relying on his basic rights to a fair trial,” the
ECHR said in a statement.

The European Convention of Human Rights states that
signatory countries must comply with court rulings or face
exclusion from the Council of Europe.

Lutsenko is accused of having given an apartment as a gift
to his driver while in office, and of financial irregularities
during celebrations marking National Police Day.

Tymoshenko has described her conviction as part of campaign
by Yanukovich to destroy the opposition ahead of a parliamentary
election due in October.

The ECHR said the lawfulness of Lutsenko’s arrest and
detention had not been properly reviewed, despite his complaint
that it was unlawful, and that as such there had been no
judicial control of his case, breaching his human rights.