The Higher Specialized Court of Ukraine for Civil and Criminal cases has upheld the two-year sentence for former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko in the case concerning the investigation of the alleged poisoning of then presidential candidate Viktor Yuschenko.

"The panel of judges has ruled to dismiss the cassation appeals," presiding judge Valeriy Shvets said at a court meeting on Wednesday.

The ruling will not affect Lutsenko, given that he had spent more than two years in prison and was pardoned by the president.

As reported, on April 5, Verkhovna Rada Human Rights Commissioner Valeria Lutkovska asked Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych to pardon former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko because of his state of health and the fact that the minister had already served most of his sentence.

On April 7, Yanukovych signed a pardon order, and the ex-minister. Lutsenko was released on the same day.

Lutsenko was detained on December 25, 2010. 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.

Lutsenko filed cassation appeals against both verdicts to Higher Specialized Court for Civil and Criminal Cases. On April 3, 2013, the Higher Specialized Court 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.