But court ruling quashing Yanukovych's convictions had been forged
ICTV television, Kiev, in Ukrainian 1105 gmt 29 Jan 06
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Sunday, Jan 29, 2006
via AUR


Ukrainian Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko has said that opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych cannot be disqualified from the parliament election race, even though his criminal convictions were quashed unlawfully.

Speaking live during the talk show called "In detail with Dmitriy Kiselev" on the ICTV commercial TV channel, Lutsenko said that Yanukovych's convictions are considered quashed under the statute of limitation.

"I can clarify this issue today. On the one hand, every man who has served his sentence is considered to be without convictions after some period of time. Depending on the nature of the crime committed, this happens in three, six of eight years.

Mr Yanukovych's last conviction was in 1970. At any rate, at present he is the person with quashed convictions due to the statute of limitation. On the other hand he committed crimes for which he served his prison term," Lutsenko said.

Lutsenko produced documents in the studio, which, he said, show that the court ruling quashing Yanukovych's convictions had been forged. "Currently an expert examination has unequivocally established that the ruling by the court of appeals to the effect that Yanukovych had no criminal convictions and committed no crimes was forged.

The investigation has failed to identify the people who did this because the people have stopped turning up for questioning and are at large. But this does not mean that Mr Yanukovych can be disqualified from the election race. Due the fact that very much time has passed since his last prison term in 1970, this conviction has been quashed automatically. That is it," Lutsenko said.

Lutsenko also said that the police have information that some candidates are running for parliament in breach of Ukraine's laws. He added that he is obliged to share these concerns with the public. "Under the law on the police, I, as a state servant, should inform the public about the criminal situation.

Therefore, I am informing of the criminal situation in some election lists. I mean people at the centre of attention from the police and law-enforcement agencies. We have evidence and have grounds to suspect these people of involvement in crime," Lutsenko said.

As an example, Lutsenko mentioned a candidate running for parliament on the election list of former Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko's bloc: "In November last year, he was a citizen of the African republic Cape Verde. We have checked this, and he received his Ukrainian passport unlawfully, in breach of the appropriate mechanism."

"Well, this does not mean that he is suspected of any wrongdoing. But he received Ukrainian citizenship unlawfully in November last year, and the Central Electoral Commission will face a dilemma: to register or to disqualify him," Lutsenko said.

"Two people, who are on the international wanted list, are also on [opposition Progressive Social Party leader] Nataliya Vitrenko's list," Lutsenko went on.

"I do not know if this is good or bad. Probably, some people will like it and definitely vote for them. These are two people wanted internationally by Interpol. Some may not like this. Let people decide. I am not canvassing for anyone, but providing information," Lutsenko said.

Apart from election-related matters, Lutsenko also talked about the reform of the traffic police and the police's priorities in this year, including fighting crime and corruption.