Ukraine's ex-interior minister gets two years over Yushchenko poisoning
KYIV. Aug 17 (Interfax) - Kyiv's Pechersky District Court has sentenced former Ukrainian Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko to two years in prison after convicting him of negligence during the search for Valentin Davydenko, driver for the Ukrainian Security Council's ex-deputy head Volodymyr Satsyuk, an Interfax correspondent has reported.
The court ruling was announced by Judge Anna Medushevskaya.
People in Ukraine have no chance to be properly defended in court, Lutsenko said after the court session.
"Ukraine offers its people absolutely no opportunity for defense in court," he said.
The state prosecutor earlier sought a prison term of two years and six months for Lutsenko and asked the court to ban the ex-minister from holding public office for three years. The prosecutor demanded 2.5-year suspended prison sentences for the other defendants.
The new sentence will not influence the prison terms of Lutsenko, who was earlier sentenced to four years in prison for other offences.
This criminal case was opened after a document was initialed, prolonging the search for Davydenko as part of an investigation into the poisoning of presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko.
Lutsenko was detained on December 26, 2010.