Maidan cases. SBI identified the law enforcement officers who started shooting at the demonstrators on February 20, 2014

The State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) identified the law enforcement officers who started shooting at the demonstrators on February 20, 2014.

The SBI employees reported the suspicion to the former company commander of the "Berkut" special unit in Sevastopol and one of the policemen of this unit. According to the investigation, they were the direct perpetrators of the mass shootings of Maidan activists and were actually the first to start shooting at the demonstrators.

The investigation established that on February 20, 2014, in Kyiv, on Instytutska Street, these "Berkutians" on the orders of the top management shot at the demonstrators from firearms with cartridges with lead buckshot. Three demonstrators were killed and three others were injured directly because of this.

Their shots actually became an impetus for the deliberate killing of protesters. As a result of their actions, 48 participants of the protest were killed and another 90 were wounded by gunshots.

After these events, the commander of Sevastopol "Berkut" together with the employees of the unit he led fled to Sevastopol to avoid responsibility. Later, they sided with Russia and contributed to the annexation of the peninsula. The pre-trial investigation in the case continues.

The commander of the Sevastopol "Berkut" and his subordinate face 10 to 15 years in prison or life imprisonment.

• On November 21, 2013, Euromaidan began in Ukraine, after Viktor Yanukovych stopped preparations for signing the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU. The protests turned into anti-government protests and gained a larger scale after the police dispersed the students on November 30. In February 2014, the shooting of demonstrators led to the overthrow of the Yanukovych regime.
• The Euromaidan events were called the Revolution of Dignity, and the dead were called the Heavenly Hundred. According to the prosecutorʼs office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 107 people died during the revolution. Another 2.5 thousand people were injured.