In a controversial move, Ukraine’s State Investigation Bureau has charged former lawmaker Tetiana Chornovol with intentional murder for a crime she allegedly commited during the country’s 2013-2014 EuroMaidan Revolution.
Chornovol is suspected of deliberately burning the office of the then-ruling Party of Regions during the revolution, which led to the death of one person.
The protests began in November 2013, when then-President Viktor Yanukovych, who led the Party of Regions, refused to sign an Association Agreement with the European Union in favor of a different agreement with Russia. The revolution ousted Yanukovych and his cronies in February 2014, bringing in power a pro-Western government.
More than 100 people lost their lives during the revolution.
During one of the violent incidents, protesters threw Molotov cocktails at the Party of Regions office in central Kyiv on Feb. 18, 2014. The office burned, and one employee was killed in the fire.
Six years later, Chornovol faces murder charges as investigators say that she led the group of protesters who burned the party’s office. Chornovol denied that she was responsible for the murder.
“Did I set the Party of Regions office on fire? Yes. Am I involved in a murder? No, I don’t have blood on my hands,” said Chornovol after her house was searched by the Investigation Bureau on April 10. “These are political repressions against me.”
A number of politicians, activists and journalists have spoken out in support of Chornovol, a former activist and journalist who served as a lawmaker in 2014-2019.
Former lawmaker Mustafa Nayyem, whose Facebook post launched the EuroMaidan protests in 2013, called the case absurd.
“Guys, are you being serious?” Nayyem wrote on Facebook, addressing the investigators. “I’m sorry for the time and efforts you’re wasting on this.”
Ex-President Petro Poroshenko, who came to power after the EuroMaidan Revolution, addressed President Volodymyr Zelensky, calling on him to stop the case that “discredits Ukraine in the eyes of the world.” Chornovol was a member of the ruling coalition when Poroshenko was president.
The case
On Feb. 18, 2014, a group of EuroMaidan activists surrounded the Party of Regions office in downtown Kyiv. The protesters set the building on fire. During the fire, the office guard died of smoke inhalation.
According to the State Investigation Bureau, Chornovol was the one who set the office on fire. The agency published a short video where a person who resembles Chornovol says on camera that something needs to be thrown at the building.
Later, the poor-quality video shows an unspecified person throwing something into the building. The bureau also stated that, during searches conducted in Chornovol’s apartment on the same day, a number of items important for the investigation were uncovered, including weapons.
If found guilty, Chornovol could face life imprisonment.
Journalist-turned-activist
Prior to EuroMaidan, Chornovol was a well-known journalist. She was among the first members of the press to report on the lavish Mezhyhirya residence, Yanukovych’s secret estate outside Kyiv, where he kept a collection of retro cars and a private zoo.
When the protests against Yanukovych began in November, Chornovol became one of the central faces of EuroMaidan. For that reason, she was also targeted by the regime.
On Dec. 25, 2013, Chornovol’s car was forced off the road by another car. Two men then dragged her from her vehicle and savagely beat her.
The attack on Chornovol came hours after she had published an investigative article on the property of then-Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka and Interior Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko. Chornovol was hospitalized with a broken nose, bruises and concussion.
Pictures of Chornovol after the attack, with a badly swollen, bruised and bloodied face, sparked outrage in Ukraine and around the world.
In 2018, a court found Ihor Kornilov, a hired thug, guilty of causing grievous bodily harm to Chornovol with the intent to murder her.
After the revolution, Chornovol was elected to parliament on the ticket of the People’s Front party, which won 82 seats in parliament. She was second on the party’s list.
During her tenure in the legislature, she became known for political stunts such as violently attacking lawmakers and going to protests.
In 2019, Chornovol was not reelected to parliament and her tenure ended in August.
Then, she turned to activism again.
On Jan. 28, Chornovol broke into the State Investigation Bureau headquarters during a briefing by Oleksandr Babikov, Yanukovych’s former defense lawyer. He had been appointed as the first deputy head of the bureau earlier that month.
Chornovol demanded Babikov’s resignation. On March 5, Babikov became the acting head of the State Investigation Bureau.
“I think it’s symbolic, that Yanukovych’s (former) lawyer is the one issuing warrants for the arrest of a EuroMaidan activist,” Poroshenko said in a statement.
