Wed, August 08, 2012
KIEV, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Ukrainian Central Election Commission on Wednesday banned two imprisoned former officials from running in the upcoming parliamentary elections.
CCE deputy head Zhanna Usenko-Chernaya said the commission had no reason to register former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and former Interior Minister Yurly Lutsenko as candidates for the Oct. 28 elections because of their convictions, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported.
Tymoshenko is serving a seven-year jail term for abuse of power in a 2009 gas deal with Russia. She is also accused of embezzling an estimated 405 million U.S. dollars and evading taxes.
Lutsenko was arrested on December 2010 and sentenced to four years in prison in May for embezzlement of budgetary funds and forgery.
