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Kyiv’s Svyatoshinsky Court on Oct. 24 released from custody Mykola Kokhanivsky, the leader of the volunteer OUN Battalion following clashes between the police and his supporters. The police took off his handcuffs and let him out of the cage in the courtroom but a hearing on his arrest warrant continued, and the court has yet to decide on whether to put him under arrest.
Kokhanivsky, who is accused of assault, was released because the court failed to issue an arrest warrant for him within the 72-hour period set by the law. Kokhanivsky’s lawyers argued that Kokhanivsky had been detained with numerous procedural violations, which was denied by the prosecutors.
The clashes between the police and Kokhanivsky’s supporters came amid a series of protests and clashes and the setting up of a tent camp in front of the Verkhovna Rada that started on Oct. 17.
After the court on Oct. 23 delayed a hearing on Kokhanivsky’s arrest until the next day, Kokhanivsky’s supporters protested against the decision and prevented the police from transporting him to a detention facility, arguing that they had no right to do so.
Riot police clash with protesters at the Svyatoshinsky Court at about 2 a.m. on Oct. 24.
The police tried to storm the court building and detain the protesters at about 2 a.m. on Oct. 24, but the protesters built a barricade out of furniture, pushed the police out and effectively took over part of the building.
As a result of the clashes, furniture, windows and a glass defendant’s cage inside the court building were broken, and nationalist slogans were scrawled all over the walls.
At about 9 a.m. on Oct. 24, the protesters reached a deal with the police that they would remove the barricades, and a court hearing would begin, said Vladyslav Goranin, an activist who came to support Kokhanivsky. However, after the removal of the barricades the police advanced on the protesters and detained 30 of them.
“They promised that there would be a peaceful court hearing, but deceived us,” Goranin said.
The Prosecutor General’s Office charged six of the detainees with hooliganism, damaging property and unlawfully interfering in law enforcers’ activities.
During their assault, the police used tear gas and prevented medics from treating injured protesters, said Tetiana Blyznyuk, an aide to Radical Party lawmaker Igor Mosiychuk who came to support Kokhanivsky. Goranin said the use of tear gas inside buildings is banned by Ukrainian law.
Video footage shows riot police violently dispersing and beating protesters in the court building, while Kokhanivsky was photographed with a bloodied head.
Riot police crack down on protesters at the Svyatoshynsky Court at about 9 a.m. on Oct. 24.
News agency UNIAN and Hromadske television said that their journalists, Serhiy Lefter and Dmytro Replyanchuk, had been beaten by riot police. Lefter and Strana.ua journalist Kirill Malyshev were also detained by the police.
Replyanchuk said police officers had hit him with their hands and kicked him with their legs and had broken his camera. He said he had told them that he was a journalist, but they kept beating him.
Interior Ministry spokesman Artem Shevchenko apologized to the journalists and said that the police’s actions would be investigated if complaints are filed.
In the morning of Oct. 24, police officers did not let journalists attend the open court hearing on Kokhanivsky and refused to specify their names and positions to the Kyiv Post. Under Ukrainian law, journalists cannot be blocked from attending open hearings, and police officers are required to name themselves and show their IDs.
Kokhanivsky was detained on Oct. 21 after he reportedly shot at Ruslan Kochmala, also known by the nickname “Rem”, a former fighter of the Right Sector, Azov and Odin volunteer battalions, with a non-lethal gun that he had no license to carry. Kochmala was injured.
Kokhanivsky argued that he and his friends had been attacked by Kochmala and his associates, who allegedly used pepper spray. He described his actions as self-defense.
Kokhanivsky attributed the scuffle to a conflict with Kochmala over a house where veterans of Russia’s war against Ukraine and refugees from the Donbas are squatting, while Kochmala said it was due to a debate about the war.
According to Kokhanivsky, Kochmala serves at Life Security, a security firm linked to Illya Kyva, a controversial ex-aide to Interior Minister Arsen Avakov. Kyva denied having links to Kochmala.
Kochmala has been assued by his opponents of ties to the government and being a pro-government thug, or “titushka” – an accusation that he denies.
Kokhanivsky’s OUN battalion, which fought against Russian-separatist troops, is not linked to the political group with the same name – OUN, or the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists.
Riot police beat Hromadske television journalist Dmytro Replyanchuk at the Svyatoshynsky Court on Oct. 24.
