- Why does Kiev refuse to properly investigate the mysterious 2014 ‘Maidan massacre’?

For almost ten years officials have refused to find the culprits, despite plenty of eyewitness accounts and evidence

©  RT

The active phase of hostilities in Ukraine has been going on for more than 500 days. During this time, tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of people have died.

Meanwhile Western governments have spent billions to support the war, and an active discussion has begun in Russia about the possibility of using nuclear weapons.

Ivan Katchanovski, a Canadian researcher of Ukrainian origin, believes that the first domino in the sequence toppled almost ten years ago, when the mass protests that would become known as "EuroMaidan" broke out in the Ukrainian capital. 

On one day in Kiev more than 100 people, including both protesters and police, were killed. The Ukrainian leadership, western politicians and media blamed the Berkut special police force, but many facts suggest that the protesters may have been shot by fellow oppositionists.

 

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In his article ‘The Maidan Massacre Trial and Investigation Revelations: Implications for the Ukraine-Russia War and Relations’, Katchanovski shows how the failure to properly investigate decade-old crimes has helped bring international relations to their current state. 

The Maidan massacre: The results of the investigation

The events concerned began on November 21, 2013, when the Ukrainian government suspended preparations for concluding an association agreement with the European Union. Around 10pm on the same day, the first protests –  which were backed by the main opposition leaders of the time – broke out on Kiev’s main square. 

Initially, the gathering did not attract that many people. On the first day, between 1,000 and 1,500 activists took park. However, after a few days, radicals – sensing an opportunity – erected a tent city on the Maidan. Eventually they would seize several administrative buildings, form armed “self-defense forces” and enter into direct conflict with law enforcement. 

The events reached a climax between February 18 and 20, 2014 when unidentified snipers opened fire over the Maidan. As a result, more than a hundred people were killed, including both protesters and officers of the Berkut special police force, part of Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs. According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, 2,442 people were injured during the Euromaidan. Someone had to be held responsible for the massacre, and those who came to power as a result of the coup quickly found the supposed “perpetrators.”

A criminal case was opened against ex-president Viktor Yanukovych, who had fled the country. He was charged with the mass murder of civilians. Berkut special police forces were also accused of Maidan crimes – including discharging their weapons against civilians.