The testimony of Euromaidan militant Ivan Bubenchik, who confessed to killing Berkut fighters in the back of the head, significantly strengthened the position of the defense in cases against Berkut and ex-president Viktor Yanukovych.
Ruslan Bortnik, director of the Ukrainian Institute of Policy Analysis and Management, stated this at a press conference in Kyiv, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“This case will have an impact on two very important, high-profile criminal proceedings.
Firstly, on the Berkut case. Now, in the case of the confrontation on Instytutskaya, lawyers will be able to use the testimony of Bubenchik and the statements of his lawyer that, in fact, it was not the actions of law enforcement officers that led to the unfolding of events on Instytutskaya, but the actions of completely different people who had other goals - precisely escalation of the conflict.
Secondly, this will have a serious effect on the Yanukovych case. Now this testimony largely exonerates Yanukovych and his team, and significantly weakens the prosecutor’s accusations of organizing the massacre on Instytutskaya...
This testimony significantly strengthened the line of defense,” Bortnik said.