Maidan cases: four former police officers to be tried for violent dispersal of protests in Cherkasy
Kyiv • UNN
Four former police officers of the Cherkasy region, including the heads of the public security police, patrol service, special battalion and deputy commander of the Berkut, will be tried for issuing illegal orders to disperse protesters by force on February 20, 2014, which resulted in 13 protesters being injured and vehicles damaged.
Under the procedural supervision of prosecutors from the Prosecutor General's Office, an indictment against four former heads of units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in Cherkasy region was sent to court. This was reported by the press service of the Prosecutor General's Office, according to UNN.
We are talking about the head of the Department of Public Security, the commander of the patrol service battalion, the commander of the special battalion of judicial police "Griffin" and the deputy commander of the special police company "Berkut", subordinated to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in Cherkasy region,
Details
The investigation found that on February 20, 2014, the former law enforcement officers gave illegal instructions to subordinate officers of the PPS, Grifon and Berkut police units to forcefully disperse protesters in Cherkasy.
Being on the scene, they directly supervised such actions.
In their turn, the officers of these units, following the illegal instructions of the defendants, used unlawful violence against the protesters.
As a result, 13 of them sustained injuries of varying severity. The victims' vehicles were also damaged.
The defendants are charged with abuse of power and official authority by a law enforcement officer committed by prior conspiracy, as well as unlawful obstruction of the organization and holding of meetings and rallies (Article 28(2), Article 365(2), Article 28(2), Article 340 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
Recall
The former deputy commander of the Crimean Berkut unit, who is hiding in the temporarily occupied Crimea, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for treason, abuse of power and illegal suppression of protests in 2013.
