Two ex-fighters of Berkut, transferred by Ukraine on exchange, returned to Kiev

Two former employees of the special unit Berkut Alexander Marinchenko and Sergey Tamtura returned to Kiev, according to the lawyer of former Ukrainian prisoners Alexander Goroshinsky on his page on the social network Facebook on February 8. The lawyer also published an open appeal of former employees of the Special Unit to the President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Dmitry Umumkov and Prosecutor General of Ukraine Ruslan Ryaboshapka. Marinchenko and Tamtura said they had been held in prison for more than five years for crimes they had not committed. We were appointed guilty by the political regime, which came to power through an armed coup d 'état in 2014, the statement reads. Former Ukrainian security forces also noted that the Ukrainian leadership used them to report to part of the people of Ukraine on the prosecution of those responsible for the shooting of mass protests in Kiev in 2014. The men also noted that no evidence of their guilt was found. They noted that what happened in 2014 was a coup d 'état and some of the protesters were not peaceful, they were armed criminals. Former Ukrainian security forces noted that the reason for their return to the capital of Ukraine is the truth. For five years, the trial was the main source of truth about Maidan and it should continue. We will take part in court sessions, noted former employees of the special unit Berkut. The men also noted that they did not commit crimes and have nothing to hide them, and their purpose is to restore the honest name of the special unit Berkut. "We want those truly responsible for the killings of law enforcement and protesters to be punished, they said. Marinchenko and Tamtura called on the President, the Speaker of the Rada and the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, as well as the deputies of the Verkhovna Rada to repeal the law on amnesty of the participants of the mass riots that took place in 2014 and to ensure a fair and impartial investigation of the events of the winter of 2014 with the participation of international experts and observers. The news agency recalls that five former employees of the special unit Berkut were handed over by Kiev as part of the exchange of held persons to the republics of Donbass on December 29, 2019. The transfer of former members of the Special Unit, who for more than five years were accused of shooting protesters in the Maidan, caused a negative reaction from Petro Poroshenko's faction European Solidarity, as well as among Ukrainian radicals.