Translated by Ollie Richardson

11:45:34
09/08/2016

TASS

The General Prosecutor’s office has summoned the President of Petro Poroshenko in the case of crimes against activists of the “Maidan” in January-February 2014. This was reported by the agency “Ukrainian news” citing an informed a source in the Prosecutor’s office.

“Poroshenko was called for questioning as a witness. The questioning will take place in August, a more specific date is unknown,” said the agency’s interlocutor.

Earlier, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Yury Lutsenko said that already in this case Deputy of the Radical party Oleg Lyashko, the former Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, and the Secretary of National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) Oleksandr Turchynov had already been interviewed.

Events on “Maidan”

The Ukrainian government on 21st November, 2013, announced the suspension of the signing of the agreement with the European Union. In response, the opposition of the Verkhovna Rada of the previous convocation blocked the work of Parliament and a long-term rally began on Independence Square. The three-month confrontation, dubbed “euromaidan”, in which aggressive nationalists seized several administrative buildings in the center of Kiev, erected a city of tents and created armed “self-defense” groups, which came into open confrontation with the forces of law and order.

The culmination of the conflict was the shooting by still unidentified snipers on Instytutska street on 20th February 2014, where according to official figures, 53 people died from their bullets. The total number of victims in the standoff in Kiev on February 18th-20th were more than 80 people, and hundreds were injured. Among those killed from gunshot wounds were protestors and fighters of “Berkut” special forces.

On February 21st, representatives of the opposition signed with the then President Viktor Yanukovych an agreement on ways of resolving the crisis and creating a government of national unity. But attacks on government institutions continued, and the President was forced to leave the country, and power was taken the next day by the opposition faction in the Verkhovna Rada. On February 22nd, the Verkhovna Rada adopted a resolution on the disengagement of the head of state from performing constitutional powers and appointed early presidential elections, which were later won by Petro Poroshenko.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine opened a criminal case on the mass murder of civilians, in connection with which Yanukovych and several other officials were declared wanted. Two years later the “case of the snipers” on Maidan remains unsolved. The new government in court is trying to prove the guilt of the “Berkut” soldiers. However, a resonant video, in which the now speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Andrei Parubiy oversees the exit of a group of men with similar gun bags cases at the “Dnepr” hotel, has not yet attracted the attention of the investigation.

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