Ukraine prosecutor drops charges against suspects in Nov. 30 dispersal

The Prosecutor General of Ukraine has dropped criminal charges against the state officials that were officially suspected of ordering the Nov. 30 violent dispersal of EuroMaidan protesters that ignited the nationwide revolts, said a spokeswoman on Feb. 12, confirming news reports that day. Based on a Jan. 16 law providing amnesty to both sides of the civil unrest between Nov. 21 and Dec. 26, charges were dropped against former National Security and Defense Council Assistant Secretary Volodymyr Sivkovych, former Kyiv Mayor Oleksandr Popov and former Kyiv Police Chief Valeriy Koriak. In his testimony, Popov implied that National Security and Defense Council Secretary Andriy Klyuyev was involved in ordering the dispersal, yet he was never charged and instead was appointing Presidential Administration chair in late January.

In response, the Fatherland party issued a statement that alleged dropped charges were in preparation for another attempt to violently disperse the Euro-Maidan, which has occupied most of Kyiv’s central boulevard, Khreshchatyk, including Independence Square and the Kyiv City Council building. The dropped charges are intended as a signal from the administration of President Viktor Yanukovych to all state employees, particularly police officers, that they’re protected from criminal charges when obeying unlawful government orders, the statement said. “The government is reinforcing the position of the police – obviously still wanting to fulfill a scenario of force against the protesters – for when the full submission of police subunits and their ignoring of Ukraine’s laws will be necessary,” the statement said.

Ukraine’s Internal Affairs Ministry announced on Feb. 12 that three of the six suspects in the brutal beating of activist Tetiana Chornovol have been released on their own recognizance. The Ministry continues to hold dozens of EuroMaidan activists incarcerated and threatened to file criminal charges against more than 400 activists suspected of crimes if the protest didn’t disperse by Feb. 17, the deadline set by the so-called amnesty law, which stipulates the release of activists in exchange for the protest’s self-liquidation. The police has begun to release some of those arrested, among them Oleksandr Sydorenko, who reported torture methods such as having his head wrapped in toilet paper and being beaten until it was drenched in blood. He reported suffering a concussion, bruised chest and broken rib from the beatings.

Zenon Zawada: It’s realistic to think that the dropped charges are meant to assure those involved in suppressing the EuroMaidan that they will enjoy immunity from criminal prosecution, that is, for as long as Yanukovych is president. These latest steps by the government don’t serve to de-escalate the political crisis, and neither do the daily drips of police brutality claims.