You're reading: Liovochkin says Zakharchenko and repressive machine behind beating Maidan protesters

Verkhovna Rada Opposition Bloc member and former head of the presidential administration under ex-President Viktor Yanukovych has blamed ex-Interior Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko and “members of the former repressive machine” for beating protesters on Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in Kyiv on Nov. 30, 2013.

“Notwithstanding that Zakharchenko and others in 2013 used all means of the repressive machine, they were not able to implicate me because the real guilt for beating people on the night on November 30, 2013 belongs to them,” said a press release issued by Liovochkin’s press service posted to the official website of the Opposition Bloc on Nov. 28.

In the press release, Liovochkin says current Interior Minister Arsen Avakov and the People’s Front Party are attempting to repeat the “exact same provocation … in order to deflect attention from their participation in the organization of the terrorist attack on the Inter TV channel.

The press release says Liovochkin on Nov. 30, 2013 issued a statement concerning the brutal beating carried out by police on Independence Square. It says the reason for Liovochkin’s decision to resign as presidential administration head on Nov. 30, 2013 was to protest against the use of force against demonstrators.

Ex-president Yanukovych during skype-questioning on Nov. 28 said Liovochkin could have been involved in the beating of protesters on the night of Nov. 30, 2013, but that he did not have proof of this.

“Yes, it is possible he was involved. Perhaps, but I don’t have any proof of it and investigators have not established this,” Yanukovych said.