You're reading: Prosecutors finally reveal identity of protester ‘beheaded’ during Maidan

The Prosecutor General’s Office has released the identity of a protester whose brutal murder sent shockwaves through the Ukrainian public and marked a turning point in the EuroMaidan Revolution in February 2014.


The body of the protester, finally identified
as Igor Serdyuk, a member of a Maidan self-defense unit, was photographed being
carried away on a stretcher by police during the protest, his head not visible
in the picture. The graphic photo quickly went viral, and for many provided the
first signal that worse violence was yet to come.

For days afterwards, social media were flooded
with questions about the victim’s identity. But only on Nov. 17 did prosecutors
announce that Serdyuk had not actually been decapitated as initially thought.

“He had gunshot wounds to his head. It was
wrapped in bandages that had become completely red from the blood. Apart from
that, a jacket had been pulled over his head. The red bandage created the
impression that this person had no head. But in actuality, it was a head with
gunshot wounds,” Sergei Gorbatyuk, the head of the General Prosecutor’s
Office’s special investigation department, said at a briefing on Nov. 17.

Serdyuk, who was
44, died in an ambulance on the way to the hospital, Gorbatyuk said. He left
behind a wife and a 20-year-old daughter.

Serdyuk was
shot by a sniper while helping to erect barricades near the parliament building
on Feb. 18, 2014. The subsequent two days saw the bloodiest crackdown of the
protests, with 49 people killed on Feb. 20 alone and dozens in the days
earlier.

The General
Prosecutor’s Office’s investigation into the Maidan violence concerns more than
2,000 victims, and it could drag on for years, according to Gorbatyuk.

“We waste months
just getting permission from a court as part of an investigation into a single
case. The second reason is that a large amount of documents were destroyed
during these events,” Gorbatyuk said.

Staff writer Allison

Quinn can be reached at [email protected]