Former fighter of the special forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine “Berkut” Oleksandr Marinchenko, accused of the murders of Euromaidan participants in 2014, decided to return to the police and is trying to restore his service through court. His lawyer Stefan Reshko told hromadske about this.
Marinchenko’s defense filed a claim with the Kiev District Administrative Court. “He was fired because of absenteeism, allegedly due to the fact that he did not come to work after December 29. And after December 29 he was taken under Ukrainian control to the line of demarcation with the LPNR,” Reshko explained.
The second ex-Berkut member who returned to Ukraine after an exchange with the self-proclaimed republics of Donbass, Sergei Tamtura, had already quit the police by that time.
“Marinchenko was [in the police], he was simply removed from office, but not fired. Therefore, he continued to be considered a policeman all the time,” Reshko said.
Five former Berkut members – Pavel Abroskin, Sergey Zinchenko, Oleg Yanishevsky, Alexander Marinchenko and Sergei Tamtura – are accused of killing 48 and wounding 80 people on Institutskaya Street in Kiev on February 20, 2014. On December 29, 2019, they were transferred as part of a prisoner exchange with the Donbass. In February 2020, Marinchenko and Tamtura returned to Kiev.
Euromaidan – massive anti-government demonstrations that took place in the winter of 2013-2014 on the Independence Square (Independence Square) in Kiev and in other cities and ended with the overthrow of President Viktor Yanukovych. More than 100 people were killed in clashes between protesters and security forces.