It was supposed to signal the start of a trial that
millions of Ukrainians have dreamt of for nearly three years.
Viktor Yanukovych, left, spoke via video link to a court in Kiev as a witness in the trial of five officers accused of opening fire on demonstrators in 2014, VALERY MATYTSIN/GETTY IMAGES
Viktor Yanukovych, their
fugitive former president, appeared in court yesterday to answer questions
about his role in the slaughter of more than a hundred pro-European protesters,
killed by security forces during the demonstrations that led to his downfall in
February 2014.
Ukrainian officials had
promised to charge him with mass murder but he is safe in Russia under the
protective wing of Vladimir Putin.
He spoke via video link
to a packed Kiev courthouse from an empty one across the border, ostensibly as
a witness in the trial of five officers accused of opening fire on
demonstrators. “Your honours, I would like, first and foremost, to say that I
want to testify — this is my personal decision,” Mr Yanukovych said. “I want
the truth to be established in this affair and it will definitely appear.” His
statement was greeted with jeers in Kiev.
A curious series of events
had conspired to prevent his testimony. First, a fire at a local substation
temporarily knocked out electricity to the courthouse district in Kiev.
Then, two hours before Mr Yanukovych was due to
appear, a handful of camouflage-clad Ukrainian nationalists blockaded the
detention centre holding the accused officers, preventing their arrival at
court.
Mr Yanukovych was asked
to return on Monday, but a nationalist spokesman suggested that a second prison
blockade was likely. The slow progress has raised questions about the
government’s commitment to bringing old cronies to justice.
President Poroshenko was
a founding member of Mr Yanukovych’s Party of Regions. A thorough investigation
into Mr Yanukovych’s affairs could risk retaliatory disclosures.
“Personally, I think the
video interrogation is an absolute disgrace,” Zorian Shkiryak, chief adviser to
the internal affairs ministry, said.
“Yanukovych, apparently,
was sitting all night and learning those instructions, which were written for
him, because he would not agree to this without a direct order from Putin.”
Mr Yanukovych told
reporters yesterday that he regretted “not having called in the army and
declared martial law” in his effort to crush the revolt. “It would have been
the only way to stop the radicals, but I couldn’t bring myself to resort to a
bloodbath,” he said.
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