PGO from July 17 to conduct 'experiment' in Maidan investigation – Horbatiuk
Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) from Tuesday, July 17, will begin an experiment in downtown Kyiv as part of its Maidan (Independence Square) case investigation. The experiment will take 30 days, according to PGO chief of special investigations Serhiy Horbatiuk.
"From now on, the investigative experiment begins [...] Three months is the maximum term with all the surprises in mind. The investigators, the court experts, spoke about the procedure for carrying out the investigative actions, planned to complete within a month," Horbatiuk said at a briefing in Kyiv on Tuesday.
"Let's hope that this will take place within a month, because today everyone is interested in providing assistance, and the time reserve is based on objective circumstances that can affect this," he added.
The head of the investigation department drew attention to the fact that the monument and the cross to the Heroes of Heavenly Hundred will be temporarily moved in connection with the need to conduct investigative actions in that place and urged the society not to take this critically.
"It is only temporary for conducting investigative actions on that site, on that spot where the protesters died," he said.
According to Horbatiuk, during the direct conduct of the investigative actions - the investigation experiment - the streets will be cordoned off for several hours.
He said 3D model was also being created on Instytutska Street, which would shorten the duration of the investigation. He expressed the hope that such a model would be created within a month or two, while an investigative experiment is underway.
Horbatiuk appealed to the lawyers of the suspects, saying: "If there are any requests for additional investigative actions, additional examination of the place of events, additional investigative experiments at the site of the event, a request at this time - within three months - to contact the investigator, the prosecutor, to carry out these actions and in the future there was no manipulation that someone tried to prevent the establishment of truth."
Horbatiuk did not rule out the possibility of participation of the suspected Berkut riot policemen in the investigative experiment.
"The invitations to conduct investigative actions are transferred to their defenders, whether they agree or not, is not currently known. If yes, then, of course, they will take part in the investigative experiment," he said.