16:03 06.02.2016

Firearms used against Maidan protesters found in pond in Holosiyivsky district in Kyiv

2 min read
Firearms used against Maidan protesters found in pond in Holosiyivsky district in Kyiv

The Security Service of Ukraine has said that the weapons of the Berkut riot police officers which were used against activists of the Revolution of Dignity 2013-2014 were found in Holosiyivsky district in Kyiv.

In August 12, 2015, it was reported that firearms were found in Holosiyivsky district of Kyiv, Head of the Main Investigation Department of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Hryhoriy Ostafiychuk said at a briefing in Kyiv on Saturday. "Fragments of firearms were found in a body of water and the coastal zone," he said.

He added that at that time they did not know what kind of weapons these were and where they came from.

A number of examinations of the weapons were scheduled. "These examinations were very long... you can see the condition of the weapon, criminals filed off the numbers on these weapons," he explained.

Ostafiychuk said the examinations allowed to identify twelve unique weapons, while the identification numbers on the rest of the guns were impossible to establish.

He said they asked they handed these numbers to the Prosecutor General's Office to establish if these weapons had anything to do with the events on Maidan, and the PGO confirmed that these firearms were directly connected with those events.

Ostafiychuk also said that they needed to hold more examinations to be absolutely certain that these are the guns which were used for killing the protesters.

For his part, Head of the Special Investigations Directorate of the Main Investigation Department of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Serhiy Horbatiuk has explained that they were talking about the weapons of officers of the Berkut riot police.

"Fragments of 23 Kalashnikov guns were found. 24 guns had disappeared from the unit. So far, twelve firearms have been clearly identified. This are the weapons that we were looking for," he stressed.

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