Iryna Lutsenko, the wife of former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko and his defense lawyer, has said that her husband has received EUR 15,000 as compensation under a judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

"As of today - yes," Lutsenko said live on Channel 5 late on Wednesday, when asked whether she had received from the Ukrainian state the compensation approved by the ECHR judgment.

However, she clarified: "It was not me who should have received the money. These are [funds] that belong to Lutsenko."

As reported, 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. On August 31, 2012, the ex-minister was transferred to the Mena Penal Colony in Chernihiv region.

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 District Court. The court sentenced Lutsenko to two years in prison.

On July 3, 2012, the ECHR 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.

On October 1, 2012, the government filed a motion to review the ECHR decision in the Lutsenko versus Ukraine case. The Ukrainian government referred to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms dated November 4, 1950 in the motion.

On November 20, 2012, the European Court upheld its ruling on Lutsenko's case by rejecting the Ukrainian government's motion.

On January 30, 2012, Ukraine's government commissioner for the European Court of Human Rights, Nazar Kulchytsky, had paid compensation to Lutsenko under an ECHR judgment.