KIEV, April 6 – The three-year sentence handed down to former Environment Minister Georgiy Filipchuk is another stage of political repression conducted by the authorities and their revenge for litigations with Vanco, the Batkivschyna Party said.

"It's absolutely clear to us that a member of our party, the academic Georgy Filipchuk, has been sentenced to three years in prison for having tried to protect public property from [current President Viktor] Yanukovych's gang. It was Filipchuk, the minister in charge, who fought in the courts for the Black Sea shelf, which was taken away from the state by the company related to Yanukovych," the party said.