Lutsenko goes on trial - The Ukrainian Weekly

22THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MAY 29, 2011No. 22(Continued from page 1)“The Party of Regions is clearing thefield of potential centers of opposition andinfluence that could stand against them,”said Ivan Lozowy, president of the Instituteof Statehood and Democracy in Kyiv.Ms. Tymoshenko is currently the mostpopular opposition politician with 12 percentelectoral support, according to a pollreleased on May 25 by the Sotsis Centerfor Social and Marketing Research.The highest ranking official incarceratedso far is former Internal AffairsMinister Yurii <strong>Lutsenko</strong>, who’s been in jailsince December 26, 2010, and launched afive-week hunger strike in protest.Prosecutors accuse him also of corruption.A special report produced by formerDanish Prosecutor General MikaelLyngbo, chair of the Danish HelsinkiCommittee for Human Rights, confirmedthat Ukrainian prosecutors selectivelyapplied the law against Mr. <strong>Lutsenko</strong>, whohas been targeted for political reasons.Mr. Lyngbo presented his conclusions,published in an April 28 report, to a meetingof leading Western diplomats in Kyivon May 23.“In the <strong>Lutsenko</strong> case, the court onlystates that ‘the case materials have datathat indicate a possibility by <strong>Lutsenko</strong> per-Demjanjuk(Continued from page 6)of law, but based on evidence and allegationsquite likely fabricated by the KGB.’“… What important national interestwas served by proceeding with this casebased on evidence that the FBI knew wassuspect more than a quarter century ago?Yulia Tymoshenko...sonally and through others in the future tohamper the exercise of procedural decisionsin the case and the effect on witnesses,”Mr. Lyngbo stated.“This clearly is not an individual justificationfor the legality of the use of detentionwith regard to the specific facts of thecase, as required by the European Courton Human Rights,” he said.The report pointed out that ProcuratorGeneral Viktor Pshonka himself admittedthat he considers himself to be a memberof the president’s team and will fulfill hisorders.“One would rather expect him toexpress his loyalty to the law and his independencefrom political life,” the reportsaid. “This corresponds to many statementsabout a history of political influenceon the prosecution and the courts.Reportedly one of the main reasons forlaunching the case against Mr. <strong>Lutsenko</strong> isto pay back his actions as Minister ofInterior [Internal Affairs] against some ofthe persons who have come to power.”Reliable sources told The UkrainianWeekly it was the procurator general whoinitiated a meeting on the day of Ms.Tymoshenko’s arrest that was attended byU.S. Ambassador John Tefft, GermanAmbassador Dr. Hans-Jurgen Heimsoeth,and European Commission Representativeto Ukraine José Manuel Pinto Teixeira.During the meeting, Mr. Pshonkareportedly told the diplomats that Ms.None that we can think of. …“… Not only Demjanjuk, but allAmericans, are entitled to know if andhow the fundamentals of American justicewere so completely perverted.“…if Demjanjuk was purposelyuprooted and subjected to 30 years ofemotional torture based on evidencebelieved to be fabricated – then someoneshould go to jail. For a very long time.”Tymoshenko was released after sheagreed to cooperate with investigators,the Kommersant-Ukrayina newspaperreported.But Ms. Tymoshenko offered a differentspin on the day’s events. “If the globalcommunity and Ukrainian civil society– journalists and deputies – didn’t standup for me, I would have been arrested,”Ms. Tymoshenko told the Channel 5 TVnetwork on May 24.“At the budget’s expense, a repressivemachine has been built which can takeany person in Ukraine and do whatever itwants. A person doesn’t know where togo to defend himself. There are no judges.The procurator general is working forthe mafia. The Security Service ofUkraine is working for the mafia.”Ms. Tymoshenko’s brief arrest drewimmediate criticism from the EuropeanUnion, particularly among leaders of theEuropean People’s Party, which signed acooperation agreement with the<strong>Lutsenko</strong>...(Continued from page 1)admitted to the courtroom, but most journalistsseeking to cover the proceedingswere turned away.Some 100 activists and supportersgathered in front of the court building onKyiv’s central Khreschatyk Street, holdin g O U - P S D a n d o p p o s i t i o nBatkivschyna party banners and placardssaying “Liberty for <strong>Lutsenko</strong>!” and “Theprosecutor is democracy’s gravedigger!”* * *Reporting on the opening of the criminalcase, the Ukrinform news servicequoted Mr. <strong>Lutsenko</strong> as saying: “I haveevery reason to believe in the bias of thePechersky and the appeals courts of Kyiv.Therefore, I declare that I choose andBatkivschyna party that she founded.“The Ukrainian government shouldstop its politically motivated pressureagainst the opposition leader,” said LucaVolonte, chairman of the EuropeanPeople’s Party faction and member of theItalian Parliament. “The government’sanger against the opposition is a horriblestart to Ukraine’s chairmanship of theCommittee of Ministers of the Council ofEurope.”(Ukraine began its six-monthterm leading the Council of Europe twoweeks ago.)The Yanukovych administration’s goalis to convict Ms. Tymoshenko on criminalcharges to prevent her from running forpolitical office, Mr. Lozowy commented.The Party of Regions is also interested inimprisoning her, which would shut downher opposition activity, he said.“If she’s imprisoned, she won’t’ bereleased anytime soon,” Mr. Lozowy said.“This is part of their work towards the goalof eliminating her as a political opponent.”demand the consideration of my case byjury trial.”On April 22, Mr. <strong>Lutsenko</strong>, who wasin the Lukianivka remand prison of Kyiv,went on an indefinite hunger strike afterthe Kyiv Court of Appeals on April 21extended his arrest until May 26.The opposition factions Our Ukraine –People’s Self-Defense (OU-PSD) and theYulia Tymoshenko Bloc – Batkivschyna,walked out of the Verkhovna Rada sessionhall last week to protest the prosecutionof Mr. <strong>Lutsenko</strong>.Earlier, OU-PSD faction chairmanMykola Martynenko said that the factionis demanding the immediate release fromcustody of Mr. <strong>Lutsenko</strong>, who has beenin jail since late December 2010. He saidthat more than 100 national deputies hadsigned an appeal asking that Mr.<strong>Lutsenko</strong> be released on bail.