#Ukraine’s Maidan 4 years on: a quest for truth

The dramatic events of February 2014 at the Maidan square in Kyiv feature among the key milestones that have shaped the flow of 21st century European history. More than 100 people were killed during street protests in the capital of Ukraine making it the heaviest toll for fatalities resulting from political protest in decades - writes Piotr Binkowski, European Council for Democracy and Human Rights

The Ukrainian government that was sworn in to power after the Maidan demonstrations initially undertook to conduct a swift, comprehensive and unbiased investigation into the atrocity. Over the last four years the European Parliament, the United Nations, PACE and other international institutions have called upon the Ukrainian authorities to deliver on their promise and reveal the truth about this shocking murder of protesters. But so far the official investigation has not delivered any practical result.

The Ukrainian law-enforcement authorities state that it was the government of former president Viktor Yanukovich which bears responsibility for the shooting of innocent people on the streets of Kiev by snipers.

But other investigative documentaries attempt to present an alternative version of events: they point the finger of blame at the actual leaders of the protest who later took high positions in government.

To evaluate both sides of the argument, the European Council for Democracy and Human Rights convened a round table discussion in the European Parliament in Brussels last week on 22 March. Israeli investigative journalist Anna Stephan presented evidence, as did Ukrainian lawyers Alexander Goroshinsky and Olga Prosanyuk, and a number of representatives of Brussels-based and Warsaw-based NGOs. The conference in particular studied the presentation of an investigative documentary produced by Italian reporter Gian Micalessin.

Participants in the discussion were not able to draw any final conclusions, but were nevertheless left with the uncertainty that the truth is likely to be even more complicated than they expected at first. Ukrainian prosecutors admit that on February 20, 2014 unidentified snipers shot both at the protesters and at police officers; the result of this was that an escalation of the crisis made any political settlement between the protestors and the government impossible.

The agreement between the Ukrainian government and leaders of the protest brokered by European foreign ministers on February 21 was never implemented, primarily because of public outrage about the Maidan murders. As a result the ruling government was overthrown, and the whole country torn apart by deep divisions that stay in place even today.

In the conference held in Brussels on 22nd March, relatives of the victims of the Maidan murders expressed dissatisfaction with the official promises so far to deliver justice. They are campaigning for greater European involvement in the process, win order to facilitate and accelerate a fair and proper investigation. It is for the Ukrainian court to identify and punish the persons guilty of the Maidan murders, but Europe cannot stand isolated from the issue. The victims of the Maidan murders deserve the truth, in the interest of all of us.

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