Lawyers name reasons for stonewalled investigation into Maidan cases

The lawyers of the families of the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred claim there is a sabotage of judges in consideration of the criminal proceedings against the persecutors of Euromaidan activists and a lack of substantial progress in the pre-trial investigation into such cases.

Lawyers Olena Storozhuk, Pavlo Dykan, and Roman Maselko said this today at a press conference at the UNIAN news agency during presentation of the report: “Responsibility for breaking the law during and after Euromaidan events in Ukraine.”

“For almost three years, not much progress has been reached in identifying and bringing to justice the perpetrators of gross human rights violations, and many abuses that occurred during Euromaidan protests. The law enforcement and the judicial system of Ukraine demonstrates the obvious failure of an effective and impartial investigation into the cases, which attracted the attention all over the world,” Storozhuk said.

According to Dykan, despite some progress in the investigation, identification of many suspects, submission of case to the courts, the prosecutor’s office, despite ruling of four different people at the position of the Prosecutor General, has not put applied effort to identify and bring to justice the masterminds and participants in the crime (against the activists of the Revolution of Dignity) of a middle and top echelon.

“In fact, for three years of investigation (into Maidan cases), the actions of the prosecutor’s office may be characterized as non-systemic, unorganized, not professional enough. The main problem of the prosecutor’s office today is the lack of self-reliance, lack of independence of prosecutors and political influence on the cases. We do not see any violations only in trials against five former Berkut riot police officers in Kyiv. However, the cases of Maidan are hundreds of cases, not only in Kyiv, but in the regions as well,” Dykan said.

In turn, lawyer Maselko noted that consideration of Maidan cases in the courts faced all the problems of the domestic judicial system, but in its concentrated form.

He added that the trials in the cases of crimes against Maidan activists actually took place in an atmosphere of prejudice and outright hostility towards the victims.

“Therefore, it is difficult to rely on impartial consideration of such cases not having cleansed the judicial system,” the lawyer said.