Maidan activist Kolomiets may be sentenced to 20 years in prison

The trial in the case of Maidan activist Andriy Kolomiets continues in Simferopol. He is accused of the assassination of two former Berkut special riot police officers during the protests in Kyiv.

This is reported by the Crimean Human Rights Group.

He is charged under several articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation: Article 105 – assassination of two or more persons (not finished), Article 228 – possession of drugs, Article 30 – attempt to commit crime.

In general, Andriy Kolomiets faces up to 20 years in prison.

At the court hearing, the lawyer said that Kolomiets had been tortured after the arrest and pointed to the facts indicating fraud in this case.

A witness for the defense also pointed out that Kolomiets had signs of torture on his body.

“The court recognized that the victims [former Berkut officers Kozlyakov and Havrylenko] had been inflicted harm in form of physical pain. Their bodily injuries were not even recorded. Meanwhile, Andriy Kolomiets is charged with attempt to murder whereas only pain was established,” the lawyer of the accused said to the Crimean Human Rights Group.

The next court hearing is scheduled for April 8.

As a reminder, Andriy Kolomiets is a Ukrainian citizen, a resident of Kyiv region, born in 1993.

May 15, 2015, he was arrested in Kabardino-Balkaria in violation of the rules of procedure of the Russian Federation. He has been staying in the remand prison in Simferopol since August 13, 2015. Previously, Andriy Kolomiets reported to the Crimean Human Rights Group that he had been tortured in the North Caucasus immediately after the arrest. In particular, he said, it was also made in order to force him to give testimony against Oleksandr Kostenko. Kostenko was also sentenced in Crimea for the attack on the Berkut officer during the Maidan protests.