Former Interior Minister of Ukraine Yuriy Lutsenko has been taken to the Court of Appeals of Chernihiv region, which is to hear on Monday the ex-minister's appeal against the refusal of the Mena District Court in Chernihiv region to release him from prison due to his poor health condition.

As reported, on December 24, 2012, Mena Penal Colony hosted a visiting session of the Mena District Court, which considered a petition lodged by Lutsenko's lawyer regarding the release of the former interior minister from prison due to an illness. The court found no grounds to release Lutsenko.

Lutsenko started suffering problems with health following his arrest and a hunger strike against illegal detention.

The ex-minister was detained on December 25, 2010. The court ruled to arrest him a few days after his detention.

In July 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that Lutsenko's detention was a violation of human rights and obliged the Ukrainian government to pay Lutsenko EUR 15,000 for moral damage.

On January 30, 2013, Ukraine's government commissioner for the European Court of Human Rights, Nazar Kulchytsky, said that Ukraine had paid the compensation to Lutsenko under the ECHR's judgment.

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 underwent surgery in the Oberig private clinic in Kyiv in late January 2013. After the surgery he was transferred back to Mena Penal Colony in Chernihiv region on January 30.

On February 6, doctors from Chernihiv Regional Hospital said that the condition of former Ukrainian Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko is satisfactory. Lutsenko is currently under the constant surveillance of the medical staff of the Mena Penal Colony No. 91.