Kwaśniewski – Cox Commission call for Lutsenko to be pardoned

The European Parliament’s Special Commission – former Polish President Kwaśniewski and former EP President Cox have called on President Yanukovych to “pardon” former Interior Minister and opposition leader Yury Lutsenko.

Aleksander Kwaśniewski was speaking at the 9th investment conference of the company Dragon Capital in Kyiv on Wednesday.

He also said that he expects the European Court of Human Rights to issue its judgement in the Tymoshenko v. Ukraine case in March. He expressed surprise that ten months before the Eastern Partnership Summit in November, a new criminal case had been brought against Ms Tymoshenko alleging her involvement in the murder of MP and businessman Eugene Shcherban.  He added that at present the prior must be Ms Tymoshenko’s health.

The language in the case of the two imprisoned opposition leaders is different.  The demand appears to be for Lutsenko’s release, but for the situation with Tymoshenko to be “resolved”.  

While Yanukovych has made noises suggesting that he would consider issuing a decree pardoning Lutsenko, this would probably be rejected by Lutsenko himself.  The charges against him have been widely condemned as politically motivated and such a pardon leaves him with the criminal conviction intact.

Aleksander Kwaśniewski said that the EP Commission would be reporting on their mission monitoring the situation with Lutsenko and Tymoshenko in March.  If there were no progress, the mission would be ended.

From reports at Interfax-Ukraine