KIEV, April 10 - RAPSI. The High Specialized Court of Ukraine for Civil and Criminal Cases has upheld the verdict against former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko, who was convicted on dereliction of duty charges in 2012. However, this will not infringe on Lutsenko's rights after his pardoning by President Viktor Yanukovych, RIA Novosti reports.

The former minister did not attend the reading of the verdict.

In August 2012, the Pechersky District Court in Kiev sentenced Lutsenko to two years of custodial restraint for dereliction of duty during the investigation of the alleged poisoning of presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko in 2004.

On April 3, 2013, the High Specialized Court upheld the first four-year sentence handed down to Lutsenko on charges of abuse of office, according to which he was to remain in prison until late 2014. However, President Yanukovych pardoned the former minister on April 7 and he was released the same day.

In accordance with Ukrainian legislation, when two or more sentences are to be served concurrently, the shorter ones are considered to be "absorbed" within the longer sentence. Therefore, the court's decision to uphold Lutsenko's second, shorter sentence was a formality and will not infringe on his rights.