Probes into major Maidan-related crimes 80 percent complete, prosecutor general says

Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Yurii Lutsenko says the investigation of the major cases into crimes against the Maidan activists is 80 percent complete.

"Investigation of the Maidan-related crimes is top priority. It consists of two major parts. The first one is bringing to justice those who are in Ukraine. I mean relatively minor and mid-level perpetrators who fulfilled the criminal order to gun down peaceful protesters. All those whom we managed to identify, apprehend, and indict - there are 280 of them being tried on different charges. The mid-level and high-ranking perpetrators fled to Moscow and temporarily occupied territory. These are the cases – the ones filed against Yanukovych, Zakharchenko, Yakymenko – that we have finished investigating. The court now considers authorizing their conviction in absentia. This means that this trio will stand trial for executing the Maidan activists as early as next year," Lutsenko said, Censor.NET reports citing Fokus news outlet.

According to Lutsenko, the PGO has also received or expects to receive court rulings on Azarov, Arbuzov, former Energy Minister Stavytskyi, Kliuiev and other officials of Yanukovych tenure.

"Therefore, I can say that the investigation of the major cases into crimes against the Maidan activists – I mean both actual perpetrators of the crimes and their masterminds – is some 80 percent complete," the prosecutor general summed up.