One of the theories behind the killing by gun of three participants of a standoff between protestors and law enforcers on Hrushevsky Street in Kyiv is the possible commission of this crime by police officers.
“We are pursuing several lines of inquiry into these murders, including [that they may have been committed] by Berkut (special police unit) officers,” Vitali Sakal, first deputy chief of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry’s Main Investigative Directorate told a press conference in Kyiv on Friday.
None of the theories, including this one, can be ruled out, he said.
The place where these crimes were committed has yet to be established, he said.
“The theory we are looking at is the killing by unidentified persons. This is an official theory, and the unidentified persons could be various people, a whole host of them… It could have been motivated by disruptive behavior, or with the aim of provocation,” said Oleh Tatarov, deputy chief of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry’s Main Investigative Directorate.
“It was established that the weapons and cartridges that were used to commit these killings are hunting cartridges. Such is the conclusion of forensic experts. Most likely, it was a smoothbore firearm. I want to stress that the cartridges which used to commit the murder were not used by, and are not in use of, the police. They have no such cartridges,” he said.
There are no results of post-mortem examinations yet, Sakal said.
It was reported that two people died during mass disturbances on Hrushevsky Street: a Ukrainian and a Belarusian. On January 25, a man from Lviv region died in hospital after sustaining a gunshot wound (also on Hrushevsky Street) on January 22. Kyiv prosecutors confirmed this information, adding that all these individuals were killed by a weapon adjusted for firing hunting cartridges charged with case-shots and bullets.
