The Maidan case: five “Berkut” fighters received sentences

The Svyatoshynsky District Court declared the verdicts in the Maidan case about the shootings of people in Kyiv on Instytutska Street on February 20, 2014.

This was reported by the correspondents of "Suspilne" and "Hromadske".

The five fighters in the case are ex-militiamen of the capital special forces company "Berkut" — Pavlo Abroskin, Serhiy Zinchenko, Oleksandr Marynchenko, Serhiy Tamtura and deputy commander of the regiment Oleh Yanishevskyi.

Yanishevskyi was sentenced to life imprisonment with deprivation of the right to hold positions in law enforcement. He was deprived of the rank of "police lieutenant colonel". Abroskin and Zinchenko were sentenced to 15 years in prison. They were also deprived of the right to hold positions related to law enforcement activities. The rank of "police sergeant" was taken away from them. However, all three were released from custody in 2019 and fled to the Russian Federation.

Meanwhile, the court acquitted Serhiy Tamtura, who remained in Ukraine. Oleksandr Marychenko was sentenced to 5 years in prison for abuse of official powers, but the court included in his sentence the term of detention according to the scheme: 1 day of pre-trial detention for 2 days of deprivation of liberty. Therefore, it is considered that he has served his sentence. The prosecution will appeal the verdict.

• On February 20, 2014, in the center of Kyiv, policemen killed 48 protesters, another 90 people received gunshot wounds. The main suspects were 26 fighters of Kyiv "Berkut". In the winter of 2016, Zinchenko, Abroskin, Yanishevskyi, Tamtura and Marynchenko were on trial. Already in the summer of 2020, the Sviatoshynsky District Court and its jury were supposed to pass a verdict, but in December 2019, President Volodymyr Zelensky decided to exchange "Berkut" fighters for Ukrainians captured in the "LPR" and "DPR". The court case stalled for more than a year, because only two of those exchanged — Marynchenko and Tamtura — returned to Ukraine. They decided to try the other defendants in absentia.
• In October 2020, the Svyatoshynsky District Court of Kyiv declared Abroskin, Zinchenko, and Yanishevskyi on the international wanted list.
• On May 18, 2022, the accused former "Berkut" fighters 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.
• On October 4, 2023, SBI completed the investigation into the shooting of protesters against suspects from the top leadership of the state, which gave the order. Among them are Viktor Yanukovych and the entire power block of Ukraine at that time — nine former high-ranking officials.