Ukrainian ex-minister gets 2-year prison term

Former Ukrainian Interior Minister Yury Lutsenko was sentenced to two years in prison on Friday for negligence in the investigation of ex-President Viktor Yushchenko's poisoning. Lutsenko, charged with negligence, signed an order to extend the surveillance of Valentyn Davydenko, a driver suspected of involving in the poisoning of the former president in 2004. The moves "caused serious damage to the rights, freedom and interests of Davydenko, which are protected by the law," the indictment said. Defense lawyer of the former-minister said they would launch an appeal against the verdict. Lutsenko, arrested in December 2010, had been sentenced to four years in jail for embezzling state funds and forgery. Under the Ukrainian law, if an individual is convicted in more than one trial, only the longer ones will be served. Lutsenko served as the interior minister in former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko' s government from 2007 to 2010.