Two representatives of OSCE allowed to visit Lutsenko in jail on Tuesday, says prison service
Vice President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and head of the short-term OSCE observer mission to Ukraine Walburga Habsburg Douglas, and program manager at the International Secretariat of the OSCE Anna Chernova received permission to visit former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko in Mena penal colony No. 91 in Chernihiv region on Tuesday.
The State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine granted permission following on personal appeal by Lutsenko and an official request by the vice president of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly received through the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, the agency's press service said.
"Since under current legislation the prisoner is entitled to one short visit per month and Lutsenko uses it for a meeting with representatives of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, the leadership of Mena penitentiary informed U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Mr. John F. Tefft that at present it was impossible to organize his meeting with Lutsenko," the press service said.
The prison service also said EU Ambassador to Ukraine Jan Tombinski hadn't requested a meeting with the ex-minister.
Earlier, representatives of the People's Self-Defense Party, which is lead by Lutsenko, and journalists planned to go to the penal colony in connection with a possible visit by the U.S. ambassador. However, after Tefft was refused permission for this meeting, the trip was also cancelled.
