Europe demands release of Ukraine ex-minister

The president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe decried Tuesday the conviction of the former interior minister of imprisoned ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

In a trial condemned by Tymoshenko's supporters as politically motivated, ex-interior minister Yuriy Lutsenko, in detention since his December 2010 arrest, was found guilty Monday of abusing his powers while in office and sentenced to four years in jail.

Lutsenko "was not given a fair trial, and the charges of which he was found guilty are absolutely no justification for a prison sentence," the president of the council's parliamentary assembly Jean-Claude Mignon said in a statement.

"It is a matter of urgency for the Ukrainian authorities to release Mr. Lutsenko," he said.

Mignon demanded the charges against Tymoshenko and Lutsenko be dropped and called it unacceptable for former members of the government of a Council of Europe member state to be prosecuted for political reasons.

"This practice is contrary to the rule of law and takes Ukraine further away (from) the principles of our organisation as well as the European integration to which this country aspires," he said.

Tymoshenko is serving a seven-year term after she was convicted in October of abuse of power.

Lutsenko, who was one of Tymoshenko's allies in the 2004 Orange Revolution uprising, was charged with abusing his powers of office by helping to grant an illegal pension to his driver and also allowing him accommodation.

He had also been charged with improper use of budgetary funds for celebrations of the annual Police Day in 2008 and 2009.

Lutsenko, 48, denounced the trial as the type of political prosecution practiced by the NKVD secret police in the Stalin era.

Ukraine has since 1995 been a member of the Council of Europe, which has 47 member states and seeks to develop common democratic practices.