Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has proposed that the presidential commission on pardons urgently consider the request by Verkhovna Rada Human Rights Commissioner Valeria Lutkovska to pardon former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko, the presidential press service has reported.

The head of state also asked the commission to consider a pardon request from former Environment Minister Heorhiy Filipchuk.

"Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych asked the presidential commission on pardons to urgently consider statements from Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Valeria Lutkovska and former Ukrainian Environment Minister Heorhiy Filipchuk," reads the statement.

The commission should consider these requests and put forward its proposals to the head of state.

On February 27, 2012, Pechersky District Court in Kyiv found Lutsenko guilty of committing official crimes and sentenced him to four years in prison.

On August 17, 2012, Lutsenko was also charged with interfering in an investigative case concerning Valentyn Davydenko, the driver of former SBU First Deputy Chief Volodymyr Satsiuk, as part of an investigation into the poisoning of then presidential candidate Viktor Yuschenko.

Kyiv's Court of Appeals upheld the verdicts.

On April 3, 2013, the Higher Specialized Court for Civil and Criminal Cases upheld a decision by Kyiv's Pechersky District Court, which was confirmed by Kyiv's Court of Appeals, sentencing Lutsenko to four years in prison for committing official crimes, and reduced the amount of money that Lutsenko is obliged to pay the Interior Ministry under a civil action by UAH 35,000.

The announcement of the court decision on Lutsenko's second cassation appeal is scheduled for April 10, 2013.

Lutsenko was detained on December 25, 2010. On July 3, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights issued a ruling declaring that the arrest of Lutsenko was a violation of his human rights. Moreover, the court ordered the Ukrainian government to pay EUR 15,000 to the ex-minister as compensation for moral damages. The state paid the compensation.

Lutsenko and his family have repeatedly stated that they will not seek a pardon from the president, because they believe the charges against him are groundless and see them as political punishment.

The charges brought against Filipchuk were based on the cost of legal services that were provided to the Environment Ministry to analyze an agreement between the Ukrainian government and Vanco Prykerchenska Ltd.

On April 5, 2012, Solomiansky District Court in Kyiv sentenced Filipchuk to three years in prison and banned him from holding public office for three years.

The opposition said that the verdict against Filipchuk, who worked in the government of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, "is more evidence of political repression conducted by the current government."

Filipchuk reimbursed UAH 1.4 million in damages caused to the state.

In June 2012, Kyiv's Court of Appeals changed the verdict against Filipchuk, giving him a two-year suspended sentence.