Shevchenkivsky District Court of Kyiv has passed a verdict against two former commanders of the Berkut special-purpose police regiment, according to the press service of the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) of Ukraine.
“They were accused of abuse of power and official powers in pursuance of an unlawful order, the use of physical violence against a participant in a peaceful protest on November 30, 2013 on Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in Kyiv, his illegal detention and falsification of documents, reports of allegedly committing an administrative offense,” the PGO said.
The court found the former law enforcement officers guilty on all counts of charges and sentenced them to imprisonment for a period of three years with a ban on holding positions in law enforcement agencies for a period of three years. The court also sustained the victim’s civil claim for compensation for the damage caused.
“This is the first verdict in the Maidan cases, on which law enforcement officers were sentenced to a punishment in the form of real imprisonment,” the PGO said.
The verdict did not come into legal force. Now prosecutors are studying the possibility of his appeal in terms of the qualification of the actions of the accused and the leniency of the sentence imposed.
