Lutsenko prevented from seeing his wife before his operation

Imprisoned former Interior Minister Yury Lutsenko has been brought to Kyiv from the Mensk Prison Colony to undergo surgery at the Oberih Clinic. His wife and also part of his defence team, Iryna Lutsenko has told Radio Svoboda that she was not allowed to visit her husband and was forced to go to the head of the Mensk Prison again to get permission. The State Penitentiary Service stated that under current legislation visits while prisoners are in hospital are not allowed. They claim that both Lutsenko and his wife were informed of this.

Iryna Lutsenko travelled to the Cherhihiv oblast on Sunday hoping to visit her husband, but crossed paths with the transport taking him to Kyiv somewhere in Chernihiv itself. She had been informed that he would be taken to Kyiv on 21 January, i.e. Monday.

Lutsenko’s operation is to remove polyps.

One of his lawyers, Oleksiy Bahanets points out that the European Court of Human Rights has ordered that Lutsenko receive treatment. He says that after the authorities refused to hospitalize the former Interior Minister, his defence lawyers applied to the Court to order them to do so.  He added that failure to provide treatment could have irrevocable consequences.  He said that Lutsenko had then been told to choose any clinic in Kyiv.

In December the Mensk District Court which held a “court hearing” at the Mensk Prison Colony on 24 December refused to release the former Interior Minister on health grounds.  This came two days before the second anniversary of Lutsenko’s detention which the European Court of Human Rights has found violated his rights under the European Convention on a number of points.

Yury Lutsenko is serving a four-year sentence which has been condemned by all democratic countries as politically motivated.