The Maidan case: SBI completed the investigation into the shooting of protesters. Yanukovych will face the trial

The State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) has completed the investigation into the biggest Euromaidan case — the shooting of demonstrators on February 18-20, 2014 in the center of Kyiv.

This was reported by the press service of SBI and the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office.

Former fugitive president Viktor Yanukovych and the entire power block of Ukraine at the time — namely nine former high-ranking officials — will will face the trial. These are: the former Minister of Internal Affairs Vitaliy Zakharchenko, ex-Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, ex-head of SBU Oleksandr Yakymenko, his first deputy and ex-head of the Anti-Terrorist Center Volodymyr Totskyi, ex-Minister of Defense Pavlo Lebedev, ex-Commander of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Stanislav Shulyak, former Acting Head of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Kyiv Valery Koryak, head of the public security police and commander of the "Berkut" metropolitan unit.

According to the investigation, on February 18-20, 2014, they gave orders and made decisions about the storming of the Maidan by security forces under the guise of an "anti-terrorist operation" [ATO], and then ordered the shooting of demonstrators. This was done in excess of power, official authority and without any legal grounds. As a result of the leadershipʼs order, 67 demonstrators were killed, and 887 were injured. 132 law enforcement officers were also injured.

The former high-ranking officials are accused of illegal obstruction of meetings, rallies and demonstrations, abuse of power and official powers, intentional murders and attempted murders, intentional grievous bodily harm, as well as organizing a terrorist act.

Separately, the investigation established that the former head of the Security Service of Ukraine and the commander of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs acted in the interests of Russia, since they already had Russian citizenship at that time and swore an oath to the Russian Federation.

This Maidan case includes 1 019 episodes of criminal obstruction of protest actions and includes 1 878 volumes of materials. The suspected former officials fled, so the pre-trial investigation was conducted under a special procedure. The investigating judge sent them to custody in absentia.

• 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 Heroes. According to the prosecutorʼs office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 107 people died during the revolution. Another 2.5 thousand people were injured.