A pretrial investigation has been completed against former President Viktor Yanukovych and nine former high-ranking officials who organized forceful opposition to protesters in the center of the Ukrainian capital on February 18 to February 20, 2014, according to the Prosecutor General's Office (PGO).

"As the former high-ranking officials have been hiding from the investigation and the court since 2014, the pretrial investigation in criminal proceedings was carried out according to a special (absentee) procedure," the agency said on its website on Wednesday.

According to the PGO, the defense was informed about the completion of the investigation and the provision of access to the materials of the pretrial investigation. "After familiarizing the defenders with the case materials, the indictment will be sent to the court to decide the issue of considering the case in absentia," the PGO said.

According to the department, the investigation established that the former president, the former head of the State Security Service, the Minister of Internal Affairs, the head of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in Kyiv and their deputies, the commander of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine, the commander of the Berkut special police regiment wanted to end the massive protests that threatened the former president's stay in power.

"Exceeding authority and official powers and without legal grounds, they organized the use of physical violence, special means, military equipment, firearms for forceful counteraction and dispersal of demonstrators by law enforcement officers and military personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine," the PGO said in the statement.

Thus, according to information from the PGO, members of a criminal group led by the former president on the morning of February 18, 2014, organized a violent dispersal of participants in a street march to the Verkhovna Rada in support of the vote to return to the 2004 Constitution, which provided for limiting the powers of the President of Ukraine.

"In addition, in the afternoon of February 18, 2014, an assault on the Maidan was organized under the guise of an 'anti-terrorist operation."