Ex-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych will testify as a witness in the case of the EuroMaidan killings via video call in the Sviatoshynsky District Court of Kyiv on Nov. 28.
The questioning was scheduled to take place on Nov. 25, but was postponed 20 minutes after the start of the hearing because the suspects in the case were not present at court. Yanukovych, speaking from a court in a Russian city of Rostov via a video call, confirmed that he will testify on Nov. 28.
Yanukovych, speaking from a court in a Russian city of Rostov, confirmed that he will testify on Nov. 28.
The five ex-officers of the riot police who are suspected of murdering protesters during the EuroMaidan Revolution in 2014, couldn’t be brought to court on Nov. 25, because up to 100 right-wing activists blocked the entrance to Lukianivske pre-trial detention facility in Kyiv, where the suspects are kept.
Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said on Facebook the police would not prevent the protesters from blocking the suspects.
“Yanukovych has provoked enough bloodshed and misery in Ukraine,” Avakov said. “The Interior Ministry will not take part in another provocation organized by a puppet of Moscow and will not engage in a conflict with protesters. Moreover, we mostly understand and share the viewpoint and motives of these people.”
It was the first time that Yanukovych, who fled Ukraine for Russia on Feb. 21, 2014, running away from the EuroMaidan Revolution, made a public appearance since a BBC interview in June 2015. His video call attracted at least 100 journalists to the hearing.
Yanukovych, sitting in a courtroom in Rostov, attempted to make a statement, but the Ukrainian judge interrupted him, demanding that the ex-president spoke only of his availability for the next hearing.
Yanukovych’s lawyers asked the court to ensure that the suspected police officers are present in the courtroom at the next hearing physically or via a video call.
