The court found not guilty the law enforcement officers who in 2014 persecuted a 72-year-old participant in the Revolution of Dignity
The Dnipro District Court of Kyiv acquitted three former law enforcement officers who were accused of illegally persecuting the 72-year-old Revolution of Dignity protester Mykola Pasichnyk. Judge Inna Omelyan made the decision. That’s what happened is known from Ivan Babenka, the prosecutor in Maidan cases, who stated that the prosecutor’s office disagrees with the verdict and intends to file an appeal.
Among the acquitted are a former deputy prosecutor of the Obolon district of Kyiv, a former prosecutor of the capital’s prosecutor’s office and an investigator from the Obolon district police department. They were accused of illegally bringing Pasichnyk to criminal responsibility, as well as of petitioning for his detention. According to the case file, Pasichnyk was detained on January 22, 2014 during protests in Kyiv, when he arrived from Vinnytsia to participate in the Revolution of Dignity.
Mykola Pasichnyk, who did not live to see the court decision, died in 2020 at the age of 78. Prosecutor Andriy Saichuk, who died before the verdict was announced, also appears in the case. Saichuk’s relatives insisted that his name remain in the case file for further rehabilitation.
The investigation into the Maidan cases continues: an indictment has been sent to the court against two more law enforcement officers who, according to the investigation, gave false testimony in the Pasichnyk case. However, it has not yet been possible to detain the police officers who used force during his arrest.
The Revolution of Dignity, which unfolded in Ukraine in late 2013 and early 2014, became a turning point in the country’s recent history, leading to a change of power and the escape of President Viktor Yanukovych. Hundreds of protesters, known as the “Heavenly Hundred,” were killed in mass clashes with security forces. Since then, investigations and court cases related to the events of that period have continued, and in early 2022, the first verdicts in the “Maidan cases” took place, in particular for former Berkut employees.
