Ukraine Denies Tymoshenko, Lutsenko Registration As Parliament Candidates

Former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko (left, in defendant's cage) and Yulia Tymoshenko talk in a courtroom in Kyiv in May 2011.

Ukraine's Central Election Commission has registered the party ticket of the united opposition Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) party without its leader, Yulia Tymoshenko, and ex-Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko.

Justice Minister Oleksandr Lavrynovych said on August 8 that people serving prison terms are ineligible to run for parliament.

Tymoshenko was sentenced to seven years in prison for exceeding her powers when signing natural-gas contracts with Russia in 2009.

Lutsenko was found guilty of malfeasance and was sentenced to four years in prison.

Based on reporting by Interfax and ITAR-TASS