Lutsenko first gained public fame as one of the leaders of the
Ukraine without Kuchma campaign, which followed the
Cassette Scandal of 2000. Lutsenko belonged to the pro-European faction akin to social democratic parties in the rest of Europe, rather than a post-Soviet oldfashioned socialism. Lutsenko became
Minister of Internal Affairs in the
first Tymoshenko Government of
Yulia Tymoshenko appointed on 4 February 2005. The same month, Lutsenko created the
Civil Movement "People's Self-Defense". In the September
2007 Ukrainian parliamentary election Lutsenko was reelected to the Verkhovna Rada as the number 1 on the list of the
Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc as a non-party member. On 15 May 2009, the Verkhovna Rada passed a resolution, stipulating to address the government with a request to suspend Yuriy Lutsenko from the post of the Interior Minister of Ukraine until the "drunken incident" is investigated. Later, on 12 May 2009, Lutsenko claimed that he would sue
Bild. According to Lutsenko, the publication does not contain "any true things, any references to documents or real officials".
President Viktor Yushchenko considered his appeal for resignation "a logical step, which should be made ..." Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko believed that the information about the incident was doubtful. On 15 May 2009, the Verkhovna Rada passed a resolution asking the government to hold a seven-day official investigation into the events at Frankfurt Airport (first deputy [interior] minister Mykhailo Kliuyev served as acting Minister that period). After that Lutsenko resumed at his post. On 10 June 2011,
Bild retracted the report about the events at Frankfurt Airport after being ordered so by the
Landgericht Berlin.
Dismissal as minister Lutsenko was dismissed by the Verkhovna Rada on 28 January 2010. The same day he was appointed by the Cabinet as first deputy interior minister and acting interior minister. The
Kyiv District Administrative Court suspended the government's decision until the end of an investigation into his appointment, but the Cabinet claimed it had not received any court ruling on the matter. After the fall of the
second Tymoshenko Government, Lutsenko eventually lost his post as Minister of Internal Affairs on 11 March 2010. In 2010, Lutsenko became the leader of the party
People's Self-Defense Political Party.
Criminal cases and imprisonment On 13 December 2010, Lutsenko was charged with abuse of office and forgery by
Prosecutor General of Ukraine Viktor Pshonka. According to Lutsenko the criminal case against him is
political persecution. Pshonka has denied this. Lutsenko was also charged with having signed an order whilst on holiday and not having cancelled the traditional "National Militia Day" despite a general instruction from the then Prime Minister to make budgetary savings where possible. Lutsenko has been jailed since 26 December 2010 in
Kyiv's
Lukyanivka Prison. Lutsenko was arrested near his home on 26 December; on 27 December a court ordered his arrest on the grounds that he had been dodging questioning in violation of his written pledge not to leave
Kyiv. Lutsenko went on a
hunger strike from 22 April till 24 May 2011 in protest against his "preventive punishment". Lutsenko filed a complaint in a U.S. court on 14 December 2011 against his (Ukrainian) prosecutors, made possible by the
Alien Tort Statute, for "illegal arrest and arbitrarily prolonged detention". On 27 February 2012, after a
pre-trial detention of 14 months, Lutsenko was sentenced to fours year in jail (with confiscation of his property) for
embezzlement and
abuse of office. The
European Commission stated the day of his sentence "signals the
continuation of trials in Ukraine which do not respect international standards as regards fair, transparent and independent legal process";
Spokesperson for the United States Department of State Victoria Nuland stated the cases raised "serious concerns about the
government of Ukraine's commitment to democracy and the rule of law"; other
Council of Europe member have criticised the sentence in similar wording. In a statement issued by the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) right after the verdict of 27 February 2012 Lutsenko was named "the victim of a
political vendetta"; Human rights organizations have urged the
high courts in Ukraine to overturn the verdict against Lutsenko. On 29 February 2012, the
European People's Party demanded "immediate release of
Yulia Tymoshenko, Yuriy Lutsenko and
other political prisoners; it also insisted the
Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union should not be signed and ratified until these demands were met. An
appeal to the sentence was filed 7 March 2012. Since the EU has shelved the European Union Association Agreement and
Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement with Ukraine because of the imprisonment of him and Tymoshenko. The
European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) considered a complaint lodged by Lutsenko on 17 April 2012, in which Lutsenko claimed his arrest and the decision on his detention were arbitrary and unlawful. On 3 July 2012, the ECHR stated that the arrest of Lutsenko violated his
human rights and the court ordered the government of Ukraine to pay €15,000 to Lutsenko as compensation for moral damages. On 17 August 2012, Lutsenko was sentenced to two years in prison for the extension of an investigative case concerning
Valentyn Davydenko, the driver of former
Security Service of Ukraine First Deputy Chief
Volodymyr Satsiuk, as part of an investigation into the poisoning of
then presidential candidate Viktor Yuschenko. During his imprisonment Lutsenko was moved several times to hospital to receive medical treatment. Lutsenko lost his appeal on 3 April 2013; this High Court ruling could be challenged in any other Ukrainian court. The judges of the Higher Specialized Court on Civil and Criminal Cases will on 10 April 2013 announce a ruling on the appeal against the second conviction of Lutsenko regarding the poisoning of former Ukrainian President
Viktor Yushchenko; this will not influence the term of Lutsenko's imprisonment.
Pardoning After already having suggested it earlier, The requests to pardon Lutsenko was made by Ukrainian parliamentary Lutkovska, former
President of the European Parliament Pat Cox and former
Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski. On 7 April 2013, a decree by Yanukovych pardoned Lutsenko (among others) for health reasons and "to decriminalize and humanize Ukrainian legislation" and the same day he was released from prison. Lutsenko and his family had repeatedly stated that they would not seek a pardon, because they believe the charges where groundless and political punishment. Nevertheless, Lutsenko's wife
Iryna Lutsenko welcomed the request.
Political career after April 2013 pardoning In the spring of 2013, Lutsenko established the non-parliamentary movement "Third Republic". At the time he was not member of a political party because he is "on a path to the same goal pursued by
"Fatherland" from the bottom up and from the people, by organizing a connection between opposition parties and the populace". In November 2013, Lutsenko became one of the organizers of
Euromaidan. Lutsenko was hospitalised on 11 January 2014 in an intensive care ward after being beaten by police in protests following the sentence of verdicts in the
2011 Vasylkiv terror plot. After the convicts had been transported away, several cars followed the riot police bus and blocked it at Peremohy avenue, near Svyatoshino police station. A crowd soon gathered, demanding from policemen to open their faces and to show their IDs. According to Lutsenko's wife Iryna her husband had been attacked by police as he tried to break up the violence. Lutsenko has received an official status of victim of a crime. On 17 June 2014, Lutsenko was appointed as (non-staff) adviser to President
Petro Poroshenko; he had also been adviser to Poroshenko's predecessor acting President
Oleksandr Turchynov. Lutsenko's old party
People's Self-Defense Political Party was renamed
Third Ukrainian Republic in July 2014; however, Lutsenko was not a member of this revamped People's Self-Defense Political Party. On 27 August 2014, Lutsenko was elected the leader of the
Petro Poroshenko Bloc. He then became leader of the party's faction in the Verkhovna Rada. On 28 August 2015, the
Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform merged into Petro Poroshenko Bloc. UDAR leader
Vitali Klitschko at the same party congress replaced Lutsenko as new party leader. ==Prosecutor General of Ukraine==