Ukraine arrests 12 riot police suspected of ‘mass murder’

PanARMENIAN.Net - Twelve members of Ukraine's disbanded 'Berkut' riot police have been detained on suspicion of shooting peaceful participants in Kyiv's months-long anti-government protests, a spokesman for the General Prosecutor said on Thursday, April 3, according to Reuters.

More than 100 people were killed, most by police snipers, on the streets of the capital in the run-up to the ouster of Viktor Yanukovich on February 21 and the 'Berkut' force have largely been considered responsible.

"By this morning twelve people had been detained, all of them suspected of mass murder on Institutska Street," a spokesman for the general prosecutor told Reuters.

Ukraine's acting Attorney General Oleh Makhnitsky said the detainees were members of a specialized force within the Berkut called the 'Black Unit'.

"The police officers of this company were trained for special operations including the killing of people. They were overseen by the presidential administration," Interfax Ukraine newswire quoted Makhnitsky as saying.

In late February the Interior Ministry disbanded the Berkut, whose name means golden eagle and signifies a predator capable of swooping quickly onto its prey.

Later on Thursday a special commission is due to hear the results of a preliminary investigation into the deaths at the 'Maidan' protests.