The use of disproportionate force against peaceful citizens on Maidan Nezalezhnosti on November 30 cannot be left unpunished. The Office of the Prosecutor General should investigate all the facts and take urgent measures, find and punish the guilty as soon as possible. The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine should use its controlling function, provided by the Constitution and Laws, and create a temporary investigative commission to independently verify circumstances of the case. Besides that, it should demand a report from the Minister of Internal Affairs Vitalii Zakharchenko, the Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka, and the whole Cabinet of Ministers, which controls activities of security officials.
We remind that according to the effective legislation, police shall secure personal safety of the citizens, protection of their rights, freedoms, and legal interests. On November 30, Head of the Press-service of MIA in Kyiv Olha Bilyk informed that demonstrators were throwing bottles with water and rocks at officers of the law. Such actions, if they took place, were not dangerous to life or health of the Berkut Special Forces. Therefore, there was no need to apply force against unarmed activists. According to the Law of Ukraine on Police, the use of force and special means should not exceed the level, necessary for the performance of police duties, and with minimal harm to the health of offenders. Mass media, present in the Maidan, do not confirm that demonstrators attacked the Berkut. Simultaneously, they have enough photos and videos proving excessive brutality of Special Forces. Therefore, MIA of Ukraine should prove that actions of demonstrators were dangerous to life or health of the Berkut.
According to the regulations governing the use of special means when securing public order, police officers shall promptly provide medical assistance to victims, and inform doctors and medical institutions. However, victims to beating prove that this regulation was grossly violated. Demonstrators were chased, kicked, and pursued on city streets. Some participants of the rally are still not found, and the public is unaware of their health condition. Besides that, the rules forbid beating head, neck, collarbones, stomach, or sex organs with rubber truncheon. As we can see on videos, broadcasted by the central mass media, demonstrators have injuries, proving that the Berkut violated these prohibitions. Peaceful citizens, which were examined by physicians in ambulances, received grave head injuries.
According to the Disciplinary Statute of Bodies of the Internal Affairs of Ukraine, officials shall give legal and precise orders, which should be implemented timely and implicitly. Therefore, in order to ascertain all the circumstances, the MIA of Ukraine should promulgate that order, given to the Berkut that night, to the public.
Civil Network OPORA is calling on law enforcement bodies to respect constitutional rights of citizens on freedom of thought, speech, and peaceful assembly. We remind that these rights may be restricted only in the interests of national security and public order, if the court passes the corresponding decision.
Inaction of the Office of Prosecutor General, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, the Parliament, the President, and the MIA of Ukraine, will be unfavorable for the citizens and the state during investigation of the case.