Shooting on Instytutska Street: prosecutors requested life imprisonment for five ex-Berkut employees

Today, July 14, the Sviatoshyn District Court of Kyiv is holding a hearing in the case of the shooting of protesters on Instytutska Street on February 20, 2014, during the Revolution of Dignity. The prosecutors asked for life imprisonment for the suspected ex-members of the "Berkut" special unit.

This was reported by the correspondent of "Babel" from the courtroom.

Prosecutor Ihor Zemskov stated that no mitigating circumstances have been established for the suspects. Life imprisonment is requested for Oleksandr Marinchenko, Serhiy Zinchenko, Pavlo Abroskin, Oleg Yanishevsky and Serhiy Tamtura.

Currently, the court case is in the final stage of the debate — the parties explain their position on all the collected evidence.

• On February 20, 2014, policemen killed 48 protesters and injured several hundred more in the center of Kyiv. The main suspects were 26 fighters of Kyiv Berkut. In the winter of 2016, Zinchenko, Abroskin, Yanishevsky, Tamtura and Marinchenko were on trial. Already in the summer of 2020, the Sviatoshyn District Court and its jury were supposed to pass a verdict, but in December 2019, President Volodymyr Zelensky decided to exchange Berkut residents for Ukrainians captured in the "LPR" and "DPR". The court case stalled for more than a year, because only two of those exchanged — Marinchenko and Tamtura — returned to Ukraine. They decided to try the other defendants in absentia.
• In October 2020, the Svyatoshyn District Court of Kyiv declared Abroskin, Zinchenko and Yanishevsky on the international wanted list.
• On May 18, 2022, the accused ex-Berkut residents told their version of events. They denied guilt and refused to answer all the clarifying questions of the prosecutors, the victims and even their defenders. This was explained by the fact that prosecutors are considered biased.