Ukraine's former interior minister says doesn't believe in justice in Ukraine
KYIV. Aug 17 (Interfax) - Ukraine's former interior minister Yuriy Lutsenko says he does not believe in the justice system in Ukraine.
"Ukraine is fully deprived of the possibility to protect ordinary and non-ordinary people," Lutsenko said on Friday in the Kyiv Pechersky District Court, where he was sentenced in connection with the poisoning of Viktor Yushchenko.
"Today's sentence is a sentence to the entire system. I promise you that I will do everything I can to rid you of mafia, despite the sentence and despite the fact that I will be sent to a penal colony soon," Lutsenko said.
The Kyiv Pechersky District Court found Lutsenko guilty of negligence in extending the operational search activities involving Valentin Davidenko, the driver of former Ukrainian Security Council deputy director Volodymyr Satsyuk, and sentenced him to two years in a penal colony.
Court Chairman Anna Medushevskaya said Lutsenko had breached the law on operational search activities and the instructions on operational search activities.
According to the court ruling, the fact that victim Valentin Davidenko later denied that he is a victim "cannot indicate the absence of evidence of a crime in the defendants' actions."
The court took into account the extenuating circumstances (Kutsenko's health and his state awards).
The other dependants (former police officers Volodymyr Tarasenko and Oleg Pavlenov) were given fines in an amount of 8,500 hryvni.
av
