Ex-Berkut fighter Honcharenko, suspect in Maidan massacre case, released from remand prison. PHOTO

The Appeals Court of Kyiv ruled on April 6 to release former Berkut officer Vitalii Honcharenko from custody.

A Censor.NET correspondent reports from the courtroom.

The court granted the complaint of Honcharenko's defense lawyers about the preventive measure against their client.

Read more: Former Berkut fighter Honcharenko returned into custody: he is suspected of killing Euromaidan activists



The suspect was released and ordered to appear in court on the first call until the decision on preventive measure was made.

Lawyer Valentyn Rybin insisted that tightening the preventive measure was groundless. Previously, Honcharenko had stayed under house arrest. On March 10, the Pechersk court changed the preventive measure for custody at the request of the prosecution.

The suspect communicated with judges and other participants of the meeting from the remand prison via video link.

Representative of the Prosecutor General's Office Oleksandr Kovalchuk told the meeting that the custody was necessary because Honcharenko had failed to show up on investigator's call.

"Boorish and cynical behavior. He came when he wanted," said Kovalchuk.

The judges noted that the pre-trial investigation in the case was over. As confirmed by the PGO, an indictment against Honcharenko was sent to court on March 23.

Read more: Russia declines Ukraine's request to extradite Berkut members suspected of slaying Maidan activists

Honcharenko and three former Berkut fighters were detained in Kharkiv in June 2016. All four were police officers at the moment. Two of them - Oleksandr Bielov and Vitalii Honcharenko - are accused of the murder of three Euromaidan protesters on Feb. 18, 2014 on Kriposnyi Lane in Kyiv. Only Honcharenko was put into custody back then.

On Feb. 4, 2017 Pechersk district court of Kyiv changed the preventive measure against Honcharenko from custody to home arrest. On March 10, he was sent back into custody.

Honcharenko was also an involvant in the case of attack upon Hromadske journalist Anastasiia Stanko and Kostiantyn Reutskyi on Jan. 29, 2015. On that day, Berkut fighters Honcharenko, Kostiuk, and Riiako asked the journalists to show the documents as they were returning from a trip to the war zone. The law enforcers decided to check the belongings of the reporters, stole their GoPro camera and hit Reutskyi.

The Berkut fighters were saying they would be punished "neither for the Maidan nor for now."