Lawyer: Court hearing ‘Maidan killings’ case refuses to hear testimony of ‘Georgian snipers’ via video link from Belarus

The Sviatoshynsky District Court of Kyiv, which is considering the case on charges of five ex-employees of the Berkut riot police in the killings of Maidan activists, on March 19 refused to question the so-called “Georgian snipers” as witnesses via video link from the territory of Belarus at the request of the lawyers of the accused.

“Earlier, a similar motion regarding ‘witnesses,’ whom I personally consider to be bad actors, was granted, and the defense was given the opportunity to interrogate them from the territory of Armenia, where, as stated in their statements, they were located. However, it turned out that these ‘snipers’ lied to the court, even before they began giving testimony,” the lawyer for the victims in this case, Yevhenia Zakrevska, wrote on her Facebook page.

She noted that the previous order of the court was not executed due to the absence of these citizens in the Republic of Armenia, from the territory of which they allegedly were ready to testify.

“At the same time, as it turned out, at the time of their appeal to the court (December 7, 2017), one of them hasn’t been in the territory of this country since 2015, and the other visited for the first time in January 2018,” added Zakrevska.

The lawyer indicated that the court had received inaccurate information about the whereabouts of the “Georgian snipers,” and hadn’t been provided evidence of their presence in Belarus, which was the reason for the return of the order of the Sviatoshynsky court without execution.

Last November the Italian channel Canale 5, part of MediasetS. p.A. owned by Italy’s ex-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, broadcast a film by the Italian military correspondent Gian Micalessin, “Ukraine: hidden truths.” He met three Georgians – Nergadze, Revazishvili and Zalogi Kvaratsekeli, who claim to have killed both Maidan protestors and Berkut officers.

On December 19, 2017 Sviatoshynsky court satisfied the defense petition for Nergadze and Revazisvhili to be questioned in connection with the killing of Maidan protestors. Defense lawyers of Berkut riot police officers then reported that these persons were in Armenia.