The Pechersky District Court of Kyiv on Wednesday at a meeting on the "Maidan case" considered 15 volumes of pre-trial investigation materials attached to an application for permission for a special pre-trial investigation against former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, the next meeting was scheduled for December 4.

"To date, the court has examined 90 volumes (out of the total of 92 volumes) of the materials attached to the application. The proceedings are ongoing, the next meeting will be held at 09:00 on December 4, 2017," the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine reported on its Facebook page.

On Wednesday, the court heard testimony of witnesses – Yanukovych's former advisers and MP Oleksandr Yefremov and MP Viktor Medvedchuk. According to their testimony, Yanukovych's circle of close associates included Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Vitaliy Zakharchenko and Chief of the Security Service of Ukraine Oleksandr Yakymenko. At the same time, they had no major influence on Yanukovych and he made all the decisions independently.

Ukrainian MP Sergiy Tigipko also gave the evidence. He reported the embezzlement of the state funds by Yanukovych and his immediate entourage through corruption schemes. "According to Tigipko, the path of reforming the country turned out to be unprofitable for Yanukovych, that's why he opted for the forceful clamp down on public protest actions," the Prosecutor General's Office said.

Ukraine's second president (1994-2005) Leonid Kuchma confirmed repeated conversations with Viktor Yanukovych about protests and the inadmissibility of using force against the protesters. Yanukovych was also offered to dismiss Zakharchenko to end the political crisis and disband the Cabinet of Ministers, but the then president did not accept such proposals.

Servicemen of the president's security service under the State Guard Administration confirmed in their testimonies the circumstances of Viktor Yanukovych's move from Kyiv to Kharkiv and then to Donetsk on February 21-22, 2014, and also said that on February 23 he left the territory of Ukraine on Russian military helicopters.

The protocols of the viewing of video-appeals, interviews in online publications and press conferences by Yanukovych in Russian media after February 23, 2014, were also considered.

The court also examined in full the written materials attached to the appeal about the terrorist attack committed by employees of the Berkut riot police unit on Instytutska Street in Kyiv on February 20, 2014. The testimony of witnesses - ex-employees of the Main Directorate of the Interior Ministry of Ukraine in Kyiv confirmed the issuance of 7.62 mm AKM assault rifles and Dragunov sniper rifles and cartridges to them to the Berkut officers on the orders of regiment commander Serhiy Kusiuk on February 18, and their further use against the protesters on February 20, non-return to storage facilities and the disappearance of the documents for their issuance.

As reported, in these proceedings, Yanukovych is suspected of organizing abuse of power and authority by law enforcement officers in order to prevent the holding of assemblies, rallies, marches and demonstrations, which led to casualties among protesters, organizing premeditated murders of and attempts on participants in mass rallies in the central part of Kyiv on February 18-20, 2014, and a terrorist attack on Instytutska Street in Kyiv on February 20, 2014.