KYIV/KHARKIV Oblast - Ten out of the 37 people detained following disturbances near the Verkhovna Rada building in Kyiv on October 14 have been arrested, Zorian Shkiriak, an adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister, has said.
“Concerning yesterday’s events near the Verkhovna Rada. At the present time, ten people have been taken into custody on suspicion of committing crimes,” Shkiriak said on Facebook on Oct. 15.
The arrest of these people has been sanctioned by a court under a criminal investigation on disorderly conduct charges, he said.
Another 17 participants in the Oct. 14 events have been held administratively liable, Shkiriak said.
The identities of a number of other people suspected of involvement and organization of the disturbances have been determined, Shkiriak said. “Measures have been taken to find and detain them,” he said.
Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said while visiting Kharkiv region on Wednesday that a police officer from the Sviatoshynsky district police department in Kyiv is among those arrested in connection with the Tuesday disturbances. “He will be given exemplary punishment, an even more severe one than all the others. He has also been arrested,” Avakov said.
The minister said he expected other people involved in the Tuesday events near the Rada would be detained.
“I think we will detain about seven others today, who are seen in photos and videos brandishing chains and knives, testing the guys’ [National Guard servicemen’s] armored vests. We will detain and arrest them,” Avakov said.
It was reported earlier that protesters clashed with law enforcement officers near the Verkhovna Rada on Tuesday. Fifteen policemen were injured, two of them seriously. Avakov said 37 people had been detained in connection with the events. The Svoboda and Right Sector organizations claimed they had no relation to the incidents.
