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91 people killed (78 protesters and 13 police officers)
More than 2,000 people injured.
448 people charged
Indictments against 297 people sent to trial
45 persons convicted
4 people received prison sentences
2 convicts are in prison now
2 people are in pre-trial detention
Nov. 30, 2013 crackdown
What happened: Early on Nov. 30, 2013, riot police brutally beat about 100 students who had set up a protest camp on Maidan Nezalezhnosti.
Investigation: Prosecutors found that then-President Viktor Yanukovych ordered Vitaliy Zakharchenko, then interior minister, and Andriy Kliuyev, then secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, to disband the student camp. They gave this task to Kliuyev’s deputy Valery Sivkovych and Kyiv Mayor Oleksandr Popov, who ordered Kyiv police chiefs to disperse the protesters. Prosecutors have charged 34 suspects, including Yanukovych, in the case. Eleven of them, including all former top officials, are now hiding in Russia or Russian-annexed Crimea. While 21 people are now on trial, the only former top official among them is Popov.
Results: Former Berkut police officer Dmytro Perinsky sentenced to three years’ probation for faking a police report about a protester arrested by police on Nov. 30.
December 2013 clashes
What happened: On Dec. 1, 1 million people marched in Kyiv to protest the beating of students by the police on Nov. 30. Provocateurs mixed with protesters attacked the Presidential Administration and tried to storm the building, beating police officers with iron chains and throwing stones and firecrackers. Berkut riot police responded by beating protesters, journalists and passersby.On Dec. 11, the police cracked down on the Maidan Nezalezhnosti protest camp for the second time.
Investigation: Prosecutors concluded that the Berkut riot police had obeyed criminal orders from their leadership. Ten police officers were charged with abuse of power on Dec. 1 and four are on trial. Moreover, five ex-top officials and four former police officers have been charged for the crackdown on the EuroMaidan camp on Dec. 11. Three are now on trial.
Results: A court convicted police inspector Dmytro Serha, who failed to stop the arrests and beatings on Dec. 1. He was fined Hr 6,800, less than $300.
Beating of journalist
What happened: On Dec. 25, 2013, journalist Tetiana Chornovol was beaten into unconsciousness near Kyiv. She accused Yanukovych of orchestrating the attack.
Investigation: Four suspects have been charged with assaulting Chornovol. One of them, Oleg Netrebko, committed suicide in 2017 while another one, Andrei Zinchenko, was granted asylum in Russia in 2014.
Results: In 2018, a court sentenced one of the suspects, Ihor Kornilov, to five years in prison.
AutoMaidan cases
What happened: Former traffic police officers are accused of fabricating cases against members of AutoMaidan, a car-based protest movement, forging documents and stripping them of drivers’ licenses, specifically during the AutoMaidan trip to Yanukovych’s Mezhyhyrya residence near Kyiv on Dec. 29, 2013.
Investigation: About 100 former traffic police officers have been charged and 15 are on trial. However as it has taken two years to read the indictment and the statute of limitations has expired, they will be either acquitted or deemed exempt from criminal responsibility, AutoMaidan’s lawyer Roman Maselko said.
Results: One traffic police officer has received a suspended sentence and several others have been acquitted.
January 2014 clashes
What happened: on Jan. 16, the Verkhovna Rada passed the “dictatorship laws” that cracked down on civil liberties and freedom of assembly. The laws triggered clashes between protesters and police on Jan. 19.
On Jan. 22, the first protesters — Serhiy Nihoyan and Mikhail Zhiznevsky — were killed. Another protester, Roman Senyk, died of fatal wounds on Jan. 25. Activists later discovered the death of Yuriy Verbytsky, who was kidnapped on Jan. 21 and brought to a forest near Kyiv where he was tortured and died on Jan. 22. Activist Ihor Lutsenko, who was kidnapped with Verbytsky, survived.
Investigation: Investigations regarding Nihoyan, Zhiznevsky and Senyk remain ongoing, with no suspects identified. The only case that has seen progress is that of Oleksandr Volkov, who was charged with organizing the kidnapping and torturing of Verbytsky and Lutsenko.
About 80 people, including top officials, ex-police officers and pro-government thugs known as titushki, have been charged in the crackdown on protesters between Jan. 19 through Jan. 23. About 50 are on trial.
Results: Volkov is now on trial. If found guilty, he may face a life sentence for the crime. In 2015, a court sentenced a hired thug from Kharkiv, Aziz Tagirov, to four years in prison for beating EuroMaidan activists near the Petrivka metro station in Kyiv on Jan. 21. Tagirov’s prison term ended in 2019. Another 13 people have received suspended sentences for the January crackdown.
Feb. 18–19 killings
What happened: On the morning of Feb. 18, a column of protesters marched to parliament. Police blocked the roads leading to clashes between police, titushki and protesters. Police stormed and burned the Maidan protest camp on the night of Feb. 18–19, leaving at least 23 protesters, five police officers and journalist Vyacheslav Veremiy dead.
Investigation: Prosecutors found that Vitaliy Zakharchenko, then-interior minister, gave an order to disband the protest camp with the use of firearms. This order was executed by Zakharchenko’s deputy Viktor Ratushniak; Stanislav Shuliak, then head of the police interior forces, and Serhiy Kusiuk, head of the Berkut riot police. Prosecutors have charged 20 people for clashes on Feb. 18 and 33 people for the Feb. 19 clashes, and cases against 18 people have been sent to courts.
Results: Ex-Berkut police officer Andriy Yefimin received three years’ probation for abuse of office and beating a protester on Feb. 18.
In 2018, a court also sentenced Yuriy Krysin, who organized and supervised hired thugs, to five years in prison.
Another hired thug, Serhiy Chemes, was found guilty of murdering Veremiy and received a three-year prison sentence after agreeing to cooperate with investigators. His term has already ended.
Meanwhile, Krysin’s subordinate Pavlo Bialay is now on trial.
Feb. 20, 2014 killings
What happened: Early in the morning, Ivan Bubenchyk, who calls himself a genuine protester but has been accused of being a provocateur, started shooting at Berkut officers on Maidan Nezalezhnosti. The officers began retreating as dozens of EuroMaidan activists chased them up Instytutska Street. Police started shooting at unarmed activists, killing at least 48 protesters on Instytutska Street. At least four police officers were also killed.
Investigation: Investigators say Berkut officer Mykola Semysiuk was shot on the Maidan between 8 and 9 a. m. The outraged Berkut officers started shooting at activists. Most of the killings were done by the special Black Company of the Berkut. Murder charges have been filed against 33 persons. Twenty-seven Berkut officers are hiding in Russia and Russian-occupied areas.
Results: Until Dec. 28, five ex-five Berkut officers were on trial for the murders. They were sent to Russia’s proxies in the Donbas as part of the Dec. 29 prisoner exchange.
Prosecutors have also charged Bubenchyk and Dmytro Lypoviy with the killing of Berkut officers on Feb. 20. Bubenchik, who has admitted to the killings, was briefly arrested in April 2018 but later released. Lypoviy is hiding abroad.
