01:22 01.04.2015

Council of Europe team: Kyiv probes into Independence Sq violence not effective enough

2 min read
Council of Europe team: Kyiv probes into Independence Sq violence not effective enough

An international group appointed by the Council of Europe to monitor Ukrainian investigations of violence on Kyiv's Independence Square from November 30, 2013, to February 21, 2014, has complained that the probes have produced no significant results.

There was not sufficient coordination between the Prosecutor General's Office, Interior Ministry and Security Service whereas such coordination would have been essential for successful inquiries, the chief of the International Consultative Group, Sir Nicolas Bratza, told a news conference in Kyiv in presenting an ICG report.

Moreover, the Interior Ministry and Security Service were reluctant to cooperate with the Prosecutor General's Office, he claimed.

For three months, the authorities didn't want to start investigations, and this caused a delay that in itself impeded the probes, he said.

The investigations were de facto not independent, Bratza said. The resources allocated for the inquiries were insufficient, and the office of prosecutor general had been held by three persons since the probes started, which deprived them of continuity, he said.

The release of the commander of the Berkut riot police on house arrest ran against the European Convention, which recommends that such measures shouldn't be applied to law enforcement personnel accused of involvement in killings, Bratza said.

The ICG was set up by Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland to check whether the Ukrainian investigations into Independence Square crimes complied with the European Convention on Human Rights and European Court of Human Rights precedents.

Bratza said the ICG had come to the conclusion that many of the aspects of the investigations departed from the convention.

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