Svyatoshynskyy District Court announced the verdict in the case of the shootings on Instytutska Street on 29 February 2014, LB.ua reports.
The defendants are deputy regiment commander Oleh Yanishevskyy and four Berkut officers of the Kyiv special company: Pavlo Abroskin, Serhiy Zinchenko, Serhiy Tamtura, and Oleksandr Marynchenko.
Three of them are being tried in absentia, as the defendants were released from custody in December 2019 as part of a prisoner exchange with Russia.
Thus, Oleh Yanishevskyy was sentenced to life imprisonment and deprivation of all ranks. Pavel Abroskin was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was also deprived of the right to hold office for three years. Serhiy Zinchenko was sentenced to 15 years in prison, deprivation of the right to hold office for 3 years and deprivation of his rank.
Berkut officers Serhiy Tamtura and Oleksandr Marynchenko, who returned to Ukraine, were acquitted by the court.
On 20 February 2014, 48 people were killed on Instytutska Street and 80 others were injured. The investigation found that all the shots were fired from the sector where Berkut was stationed.