Lutsenko agrees to be taken to hospital for medical examination, says prison service
Former Ukrainian Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko has been again offered a full medical examination in hospital, and he has agreed to it, the press service of the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine reported on Monday.
"Today [on December 3] at Mena penal colony, Lutsenko was once again offered to undergo further examination of his health at a clinic in Chernihiv. When asked by doctors whether he would agree to be hospitalized, Lutsenko said yes, and filed his written agreement with the management [of the penitentiary]," reads a report posted on the State Penitentiary Service's Web site.
Kyiv's Pechersky District Court found Lutsenko guilty of a number of counts of abuse of office and sentenced him to four years in prison on February 27, 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 on August 17, 2012 by Pechersky Court. The court sentenced Lutsenko to two years in prison.
On August 31, 2012, the ex-minister was transferred to the Mena Penal Colony in Chernihiv region.
The medical commission examined Lutsenko on November 8 and came to a conclusion that there was no reason for the ex-minister's hospitalization. Meanwhile, his wife and defender, Iryna Lutsenko, stated that during the examination the doctors discovered that the ex-minister has heart disease.
On November 15, Lutsenko refused from an examination with the help of medical equipment at Chernihiv Regional Clinical Hospital.
On November 29, Lutsenko complained that for 20 days he had not been undergoing any of the medical procedures prescribed by his medical commission. The press service of the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine denied the information and on November 30 it was reported that Lutsenko agreed to undergo a repeat medical examination at a laboratory.