Court sentences five Berkut officers for mass shooting on Maidan
On October 18, the Sviatoshynskyi District Court of Kyiv found Berkut riot police officers guilty of shooting protesters during the Revolution of Dignity on February 20, 2014, hromadske correspondent reports from the courtroom.
According to the verdict, the following defendants were found guilty of mass murder of unarmed citizens, protesters:
- Oleh Yanishevskyi. The court sentenced him to life imprisonment, with the deprivation of the right to hold positions related to law enforcement. He was also deprived of his special rank of "police lieutenant colonel."
- Pavlo Abroskin and Serhiy Zinchenko. The court sentenced them to 15 years' imprisonment, with the deprivation of the right to hold positions related to law enforcement. They were stripped of their special rank of police sergeant.
Oleh Yanishevskyi was also found guilty of murder and negligent homicide. However, the court released him from punishment under this article due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.
Oleksandr Marynchenko was found guilty of abuse of power. The court sentenced him to five years' imprisonment and deprived him of the right to engage in law enforcement activities for two years.
Abroskin and Marynchenko were acquitted on a number of charges. The court also acquitted former police officer Serhiy Tamtura of all charges.
The court took into account the period of Marynchenko's detention in the calculation of 1 day of pre-trial detention for 2 days of imprisonment. Thus, he has already served his main sentence.
Background
The trial lasted almost six years: from May 2016 to November 2022. Since then, the jury has been in the deliberation room for almost a year.
Over six years, 320 court hearings were held, 48 episodes of murder and 80 episodes of attempted murder were investigated. The court interrogated 245 people, including victims, witnesses from law enforcement and protesters, experts, defendants, etc.
On February 20, 2014, activists and security forces clashed in Kyiv. During the clashes on Instytutska Street, 48 people were killed and almost 100 others were injured.
All five defendants were exchanged for Ukrainian prisoners in 2019. In February 2020, Oleksandr Marynchenko and Serhiy Tamtura returned to Kyiv, while the rest of the Berkut officers remain in hiding. In October 2020, the court put Yanishevskyi, Zinchenko, and Abroskin on the international wanted list. These three were imprisoned in absentia.