Ukraine opposition leader in "condition of medium severity" after clash with police
KYIV. Jan 11 (Interfax) - Ex-interior minister Yury Lutsenko, one of Ukraine's opposition leaders who ended up in intensive care after an alleged assault by riot police during protests in Kyiv before dawn on Saturday, is in a "condition of medium severity," his wife said, citing a "preliminary medical assessment."
"This is the diagnosis: a closed head injury, concussion, a lacerated wound that has been sewn together, three subcutaneous hematomas - not intracranial, let me stress, - and bruises," Iryna Lutsenko told a news conference.
Her husband was currently "in a slightly uncoordinated condition" but was able to talk, she said.
She also said Yury Lutsenko, who is leader of the Third Ukrainian Republic party, was likely to stay in intensive care for another couple of days.
Iryna Lutsenko said criminal investigators had been to the hospital to question her husband but that she was the only person his doctors allowed him to see.
She said the head was the only part of the former minister's body to be injured and denied reports on the Internet that his kidneys were dysfunctional and that he was in a critical condition. She claimed that those reports aimed to provoke international sanctions against Ukraine.
Lutsenko was injured during violence that broke out when protesters blockaded buses with members of the Berkut riot police force.
"All of a sudden Berkut guys started ruthlessly beating him on the head," Iryna Lutsenko said. "They smashed the glasses on his face. He fell and fainted, and only then did they stop beating him."
Iryna Lutsenko said he husband had suffered about 10 truncheon blows.
The office of the Kyiv prosecutor launched criminal proceedings against Berkut personnel based on the "Exceeding of Authority" article of the Criminal Code.
However, a lawyer for Yury Lutsenko, Ihor Fomin, said the ex-minister would make no complaints to law enforcement about the incident.
