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Ukraine’s prosecutor-general to be investigated for role in conviction of former president

The lawyer said the Lutsenko case was fabricated hastily

KIEV, April 15. /TASS/. Ukraine’s State Bureau of Investigation has launched a probe against Prosecutor-General Yuri Lutsenko over the suspected illegal conviction of former President Viktor Yanukovich on high treason charges, one of Yanukovich’s lawyers, Vitaly Serdyuk, told TASS on Monday.

"We believe that for selfish and political reasons the prosecutor-general faked evidence and violated the current Code of Criminal Procedure to indict innocent Viktor Yanukovich. Thereby he committed a crime under Part 2 of Article 372 of the Criminal Code, which is now to be investigated by the SBI," Serdyuk said.

UKRAINE CRISIS

The lawyer said the case was fabricated hastily and "the dates of all key documents fall on days off."

"Yuri Lutsenko is responsible for failing to ensure legal requirements. In particular, the suspicions have never been handed to Yanukovich in person." Serdyuk said. "The prosecutor-general repeatedly intervened in the process and put pressures on judges, who had to complain to the Supreme Council of Justice, and more than once violated the principle of the presumption of innocence towards Yanukovich."

On January 24, a Ukrainian court sentenced Yanukovich to 13 years in jail for high treason and complicity in a war of aggression by Russia against Ukraine. At the same time the court found the former president innocent of complicity in encroachment on the territorial integrity of Ukraine, which led to the loss of human life and other heavy consequences.

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