Jailed Former Ukrainian Interior Minister Transferred To Hospital

Former Ukrainian Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko gets into a police truck after a court session in Kyiv in August 2012.

Ukraine’s jailed former interior minister, Yuriy Lutsenko, has been transferred from prison to a local clinic in the northern Chernihiv region.

A spokeswoman for the opposition People's Self-Defense party, Larysa Sarhan, said on December 4 that Lutsenko had been admitted for a general check-up.

Ukrainian Penitentiary Service officials said on December 3 that Lutsenko had agreed to be examined at a medical facility.

Lutsenko has been complaining that he did not receive necessary medical treatment for heart problems at a prison labor camp.

He is serving a four-year prison term for embezzlement, abuse of office, and ordering illegal surveillance of suspects while investigating the poisoning of Viktor Yushchenko before the latter's victory in the 2004 presidential campaign.

Lutsenko denies any wrongdoing, saying his imprisonment is politically motivated.

Based on reporting by Interfax and RIA Novosti