Brussels, 05/04/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 4 April, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton and Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Füle noted “with regret” the decision the previous day by Ukraine's Higher Specialised Court for Civil and Criminal Cases to uphold the verdict of four years in prison against former minister of internal affairs Yuriy Lutsenko.
Ashton and Füle reiterated in a press release their “strong concern” regarding the conduct of this trial which “did not respect international standards as regards fair, transparent and independent legal processes”. These concerns were reinforced by the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights on 3 July 2012, which held that Lutsenko's pre-trial arrest in December 2010 was “arbitrary” and that the lawfulness of his arrest and detention had not been properly reviewed, Ashton and Füle added.
Ashton and Füle also called on the Ukrainian authorities to step up their cooperation with the with the European Parliament's monitoring mission of Pat Cox and Alexsander Kwasniewski with the aim of removing the concerns linked to the application of “selective justice”. This process would also require consideration of “the health condition of Mr Lutsenko and implementation of further reforms”, they said.
Continuing to follow the situation in Ukraine closely, Ashton and Füle are looking forward to the full implementation of the conclusions of 10 December 2012 Foreign Affairs Council (see EUROPE 10748) and 25 February 2013 EU-Ukraine summit (see EUROPE 10793).
Lutsenko was the minister of the interior in Yulia Tymoshenko's government and was sentenced to four years in prison in February 2012 for embezzlement and abuse of power. (CG/transl.fl)