Former riot police commanders and ex-general staff chief indicted over 2014 Maidan killings
Investigators from the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) have sent an indictment to court against former commanders of the Kharkiv and Lviv Berkut riot police battalions, along with an assistant chief of staff, who are accused of organising and carrying out intentional killings and causing bodily injuries to pro-EU protesters during the 2014 Revolution of Dignity in Kyiv.
Source: State Bureau of Investigation; Ukrainska Pravda sources in law enforcement
Details: Ukrainska Pravda has learnt that the individuals concerned are Rostyslav Patseliak, commander of the Lviv Berkut; Mykola Starosilets, assistant chief of staff of the same unit; and Vladyslav Lukash, commander of the Kharkiv Berkut.
The probe revealed that on 18 February 2014, Ukraine's senior leadership ordered the Maidan protests in central Kyiv to be forcibly dispersed under the guise of an anti-terrorist operation. On the eve of the crackdown, Berkut units were armed with pump-action shotguns and ammunition, particularly lead buckshot and bullets banned for use, as well as uncertified Russian-made stun grenades.
On the night of 18-19 February 2014, Berkut units from Kharkiv and Lviv oblasts, commanded by the suspects and operating alongside other security forces, repeatedly sought to drive protesters from Maidan. They applied excessive force, special equipment and firearms without cause, resulting in 12 deaths and over 130 people injured, many with gunshot wounds.
Patseliak, the commander of the Lviv Berkut who held Russian citizenship, later had his Ukrainian citizenship revoked. The investigators found that Starosilets, the assistant chief of staff, misappropriated a firearm and hid it in an attempt to obstruct ballistic examinations and the investigation.
Their property has been seized to ensure compensation for the damage they caused, the SBI said.
In addition, SBI investigators have served a notice of suspicion in absentia on Yurii Iliin, former chief of Ukraine's General Staff, who is considered a member of a criminal organisation created by Viktor Yanukovych, former pro-Russian Ukrainian president.
The investigators found that he was appointed after the previous chief of the General Staff declined to authorise the involvement of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the so-called anti-terrorist operation on 19 February 2014. After taking charge, Iliin oversaw the blocking of the government quarter, the use of military equipment against protesters, the transport of Interior Ministry personnel and other actions designed to restrict the right to peaceful assembly.
At least 1,790 service members were involved in carrying out these tasks.
Iliin is suspected of participation in a criminal organisation, abuse of power, unlawful obstruction of protest actions and desertion. Following the events of February 2014, he left Ukraine and is hiding in Russia.
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