Former minister Korniychuk appeals against arrest to Strasbourg

Ihor Fomin, lawyer for the former First Deputy Minister of Justice in Yulia Tymoshenko’s Government, Yevhen Korniychuk, reports that he has lodged an application with the European Court of Human Rights over what he alleges are his client’s unlawful arrest and remand in custody. He has asked the Court to treat the application as urgent.

As reported, Yevhen Korniychuk was arrested on 22 December 2010.  He had gone at the first summons to the Prosecutor General’s investigators directly from the maternity ward where his wife that day had given birth to the couple’s third child. 

On 24 December the Pechersky District Court in Kyiv rejected the Prosecutor General’s application for Korniychuk’s remand in custody for 2 months and only extended the term from three to ten days. However on 30 December the same court remanded him for two months.

On 10 January Serhiy Konkov, President of the Association of Lawyers of Ukraine, issued a statement demonstrating the lack of grounds for remand in custody and offering to stand as guarantor of Korniychuk’s appearance whenever required by the investigator or court.

On 31 January the Prosecutor General’s Office announced that it had completed its investigation into the charge against Korniychuk  of exceeding his official powers.

New information from a report at http://ukranews.com/ru/news/ukraine/2011/02/01/36299