Yuriy Lutsenko

Yuriy Vitaliyovych Lutsenko (Ukrainian: Юрій Віталійович Луценко; born 14 December 1964) is a Ukrainian politician and former Minister of Internal Affairs. He occupied this post in the two cabinets of Yulia Tymoshenko and in cabinets of Yuriy Yekhanurov, and Viktor Yanukovych. The Ministry of Internal Affairs is the Ukrainian police authority, and Lutsenko became the first civilian minister in February 2005. Since 27 August 2014 Lutsenko is the leader of the Bloc of Petro Poroshenko party.

On 13 December 2010 Lutsenko was charged with abuse of office and forgery by Prosecutor General of Ukraine Viktor Pshonka. On 27 February 2012 Lutsenko was sentenced to four years in jail for embezzlement and abuse of office. Lutsenko was held at the Lukyanivska Prison from 26 December 2010 until 7 April 2013 when he was released from prison because Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych pardoned him (among others) for health reasons. Both Lutsenko and his political allies regard his trial as an act of political persecution by the regime of Viktor Yanukovych. The European Union, the United States Department of State, Canada, human rights organizations, and other international organizations protested against the sentence and questioned whether it was a "fair, transparent and independent legal process".