Ukraine’s security officials submit 40 cases over crimes against Maidan to court – report

The Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine, the Interior Ministry of Ukraine and the Security Service of Ukraine presented the joint report on the results of investigations into the crimes committed at the Independence Square in Kyiv during the protests in November 2013-February 2014.

According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, their officers have conducted more than 8,000 investigative and procedural actions.

5,000 witnesses and victims have been interrogated. About 1,500 examinations have been carried out, about 900 inspections of the scenes, objects and videos and about 500 experiments have been conducted.

In general, the law enforcement officers have analyzed more than 60 terabytes of videos.

Among the suspects are former president of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych, former secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Andriy Kliuyev and his ex-deputy Volodymyr Sivkovych, former interior minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko, former head of the Kyiv City State Administration Oleksandr Popov, former heads of the Interior Ministry departments in Kyiv Oleksandr Koriak and Petro Fedchuk , former head of the public security office at the Interior Ministry department in Kyiv Oleh Marynenko, former commanders of the “Berkut” units of various levels.

The indictments against Didiuk, Tiahnyriado, Antonov, Shevchenko, and Popov have been already submitted to the court. The other suspects are wanted.

Former president Yanukovych, the former leadership of the Ukraine’s Interior Ministry, the main department of the Ministry in Kyiv, the internal security forces, as well as the former commander of one of the “Berkut” territorial battalions, who is in custody now, are suspected of the offences committed on the Bankova Street on December 1, 2013.

The investigation established that the “Berkut” employees and the internal forces officers had severely beaten 41 participants of peaceful protests and 25 journalists on December 1. Two people were seriously injured, 12 got moderate injuries, 36 got minor injuries.

Besides, now the Prosecutor General’s Office checks the lawfulness of actions of more than 200 employees of the Interior Ministry departments, 80 prosecutors and hundreds of judges within this period.

Twenty investigators, prosecutors and judges are now in the dock.

“In addition, there is ongoing comprehensive investigation into the facts of illegal harassment of the Automaidan movement organized by senior officials of the Ukraine’s Interior Ministry traffic police department in collusion with the officials of the prosecutor’s offices, courts and other state authorities,” reads the statement.

The indictments against 40 persons, including 38 employees of the Interior Ministry departments and two judges, have been submitted to the court.

The facts of abuse of authority by the Kyiv “Berkut” department officers during the arrest of the Automaidan movement participants in Kyiv on January 23, 2014 have been investigated. As the investigation showed, the detainees were beaten and their cars were crashed.

Two commanders of the Kyiv “Berkut” detachments have been notified of suspicion, the investigation is ongoing.

As reported, President Poroshenko demanded that the security forces report on the progress of the investigation into the Maidan events by the end of this week.

Earlier, the human rights activists said that they were concerned about the President’s request to submit the cases over Maidan to the courts before the second anniversary of the protests, as the evidence base for many of them was not ready.