Six years have passed since dozens of Euromaidan activists were shot to death in the centre of Kyiv. In the years following, a Kyiv court has heard evidence from relatives of the dead and wounded survivors. It has now moved on to questioning former members of Berkut police squad, accused of the shootings. But last December, a Kyiv court released five convicted ex-Berkut officers as part of a prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russia.
The shootings on Kyiv’s central Instytutska Street on 20 February 2014 are central to the investigation into the events of Euromaidan. In the dock are five ex-members of Berkut: Serhiy Tamtura, Oleksandr Marynchenko, Pavlo Abroskin, Serhiy Zinchenko and Oleh Yanishevskiy. These men are accused of killing 48 people and wounding 80, and their trial has been going on for over four years in a Kyiv court.
Last summer a court heard evidence from witnesses for the prosecution and started questioning defence witnesses, among them former and serving Ukrainian politicians, as well as colleagues of the defendants who also worked for Berkut. At that point, all five were in detention, but in July 2019 a court released one of the accused, Serhiy Tamtura.
