Ukrainian politician, member of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine during a couple of tenures. Between 1996-2006 he was a member of the Socialist Party of Ukraine. In 2003 he became the head of the socialist youth. At that time he could be seen wearing a T-shirt with Che Guevara on it.
He was one of the leaders of 2002 “Ukraine without Kuchma” action and, during the Orange Revolution served as one of the Maidan’s field commanders.
Between 2009-2012 he was the leader of the People’s Self-Defense party. During the presidency of Viktor Yushchenko he was twice the Minister of Internal Affairs. In December 2010 Lutsenko was arrested and in February 2012, sentenced to four years in prison and a fine. The court found him guilty of exceeding his powers and misusing the budgetary resources.
In May 2012 the European Court of Human Rights ruled the Lutsenko’s arrest illegal and politically motivated. In April 2013, President Viktor Yanukovych granted him amnesty.
Lutsenko took part in the Maidan protests (2013-2014). After its victory, in August 2014, he became the head of the pro-president “Solidarity” party which was then converted into a Petro Poroshenko Bloc. He was its number one candidate on the electoral list in October 2014 parliamentary elections.
In May 2016, Lutsenko was appointed Attorney General which was met with controversy as he does not have any educational background in law.
In 2016 the Ukrainian media reported that the prosecutor lives near Kiev in a 859 m2 home, valued at several million dollars which formally belongs to his father-in-law. Additionally, it was revealed that his son’s company owns eight apartments in the center of Kiev.
[caption id="attachment_30182" align="alignnone" width="300"]
Image of Yuriy Lutsenko
from 2006-2007[/caption]
