Ukrainian Berkut police suspected of Euromaidan massacre now in Russia’s service

Date 2017/9/8 0:58:42 | Topic: Ukraine

Editor’s Note: The article below represents an immense amount of work by Alya Shandra and others of Euromaidan Press. We recommend that you read the complete article and also consider the implications for Ukraine’s future of a failure to act to secure justice for those whose lives were snuffed out by these turncoats who showed greater loyalty to Russia than to their native land.

 

Photo: A Berkut officer shoots Euromaidan protesters in Kyiv. Photo: Oleksandr Khomenko, Gordonua.com

 


By Alya Shandra for Euromaidan Press, Sep 8, 2017

 

On 20 February 2014, 48 participants of Ukraine’s pro-western Euromaidan protests, which had been going on for three months, were shot by the Berkut riot police. Shortly after, the protesters won, then-president Yanukovych fled, and a pro-western government came to power. A lengthy investigation into crimes committed against the protesters launched.

 

According to its results, 25 members of the Berkut police from the “Black Company” and their deputy commander Oleh Yanyshevsky carry responsibility for the death of their fellow unarmed citizens. However, only 5 of those suspected in the killings will go to trial or face responsibility 21 out of the 26 have escaped to Russia. Out of them, Russia has officially confirmed that 15 have received citizenship, and 3 were granted asylum. On 21 July 2017, Russia declined the request of Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s office to extradite 21 suspects to Ukraine. It wasn’t the first one – the request sent in January received a similar response, only for a smaller number of Berkut.

 

Meanwhile, five police officers are in the dock, according to the Advocacy Advisory Panel, a coalition of lawyers working to secure justice for the victims of the Euromaidan protests and their families. Yevheniya Zakrevska, a lawyer of the Advocacy Advisory Panel, expects that they will be a verdict in 2018. The rest will be tried in absentia, the same way that ousted ex-President Yanukovych is being questioned.

 

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http://euromaidanpress.com/2017/09/08 ... e-now-on-russias-service/

 

 





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