The Ukrainian Kyiv Court of Appeal overturned the acquittal verdict of the Dniprovskyi District Court of Kyiv regarding a former policeman of the Berkut Military Police, sentencing him to six years in prison.

The appellate court found that the officer deliberately caused severe physical pain and physical and moral suffering to two Revolution of Dignity participants and convicted him of torture. The Revolution of Dignity took place in Ukraine in February 2014 at the end of the Euromaidan protests. In January and February 2014, clashes in Kyiv between protesters and Berkut special riot police resulted in the death of over one hundred protesters and the wounding of many others. According to the report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the police targeted protesters with violence, “including the excessive use of force causing death and serious injury as well as other forms of ill-treatment, was actively promoted or encouraged by the Ukrainian authorities.”

In 2019, the Dniprovskyi District Court of Kyiv decided that the defendant was not guilty due to the lack of evidence to prove that he committed the accused criminal offense. Since then, the defendant has continued to work in the Kharkiv police. However, the case was reconsidered on appeal.

During the appellate hearing, the prosecutor allegedly proved that the defendant intended to punish both victims, one of whom was a minor, for their participation in the protests on January 20, 2014, by beatings, torture and other violent acts. The two protesters were thrown from the colonnade and the minor victim was undressed at an air temperature of -12°C and wounded in the right thigh with a knife.