EU leaders have noted with regret a decision by Ukraine's Higher Specialized Court for Civil and Criminal Cases to uphold the verdict against former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko and again called on the Ukrainian authorities to resolve the issue of selective justice.
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Vice-President of the European Commission Catherine Ashton and EU Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy Stefan Fule said this in a joint statement, which was made available to Interfax-Ukraine in Brussels on Thursday.
"We have noted with regret yesterday's decision by Ukraine's Higher Specialized Court for Civil and Criminal Cases to uphold the verdict against Mr. Yuriy Lutsenko of four years' imprisonment," reads the statement.
Ashton and Fule noted that the EU's concerns "were reinforced by the July 3, 2012 judgment of the European Court of Human Rights which held that his pre-trial arrest in December 2010 had been arbitrary and that the lawfulness of his arrest and detention had not been properly reviewed."
At the same time, the EU commended the efforts undertaken by the European Parliament's monitoring mission to Ukraine headed by former Presidents Pat Cox and Aleksander Kwasniewski.
"We call on the Ukrainian authorities to step up cooperation with the mission to redress the effects and remove the concerns regarding selective justice," the EU leaders said.
They said that this would also require the "consideration of the health condition of Mr. Lutsenko and implementation of further judicial reforms."
"We will continue to monitor closely developments in Ukraine and we look forward to the full implementation of the conclusions of the December 10, 2012 Foreign Affairs Council and February 25, 2013 EU-Ukraine Summit," they said.
As reported, 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.
