Fears that the new Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova was jeopardizing the investigation into the savage killing of Kherson activist Kateryna Handziuk appear to have been justified

The claim by Ukraine’s State Bureau of Investigations that its charges against Tetyana Chornovol are not political might have seemed a little more convincing had they not closely followed the argument used by ex-President Viktor Yanukovych’s defence lawyers

Ukraine’s increasingly controversial State Bureau of Investigations has informed Tetyana Chornovol, a former MP, journalist and victim of a near-fatal attack during Euromaidan that she is under suspicion of murder.

One of several high-profile criminal investigations that could be in danger after the new Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova removed top prosecutor Viktor Trepak is that of three attacks on Odesa activist Serhiy Sternenko

Ukraine’s new Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova has removed Viktor Trepak, the only head of the investigation into the savage killing of Kherson activist Kateryna Handziuk under whom real progress was made

There are various explanations suggested as to why Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova has forced Viktor Trepak from his role in charge of the department investigating crimes against Maidan activists, just not the success and efficiency of Maidan investigations

Ukrainian prosecutors tried twice to capture Oleksiy Levin, a key suspect in the savage murder of Kherson activist Kateryna Handziuk, after the first attempt was thwarted by a mole within the enforcement agencies who tipped Levin off.

There are grounds for suspecting that Oleksandr Babikov was not appointed First Deputy Head of the State Bureau of Investigations as the result of a fair competition, with this only compounding the concerns over a conflict of interests given Babikov’s recent role in representing fugitive ex-President Viktor Yanukovych

The appointment of Oleksandr Babikov to the second highest post in the State Bureau of Investigations is deeply disturbing given the clear conflict of interest that his recent defence of former President Yanukovych presents

The families of slain Maidan activists and their lawyers have called on the acting head of the State Bureau of Investigations to cancel the appointment of Oleksandr Buryak as head of the department on investigating crimes against Maidan protesters

So-called ‘Cossacks’ were used, together with other armed paramilitaries, in 2014 to provide the violence and brutality that Russia did not want attributed to its soldiers, and there are strong grounds for fearing that a similar role is planned now

This is a first step, but not enough, and the battle is clearly not over

Criminal proceedings have been initiated against well-known military volunteer Marusia Zvirobiy and MP Sophia Fedyna over a video on YouTube and Facebook which, it is alleged, contains “threats of murder” directed against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky

As of late on 26 November, seven Ukrainians had reportedly joined Maidan lawyer Yevhenia Zakrevska’s hunger strike in protest at the effective sabotage of Ukraine’s investigations into the killings, persecution and other crimes against Euromaidan activists

104 Maidan activists were killed during Ukraine’s Revolution of Dignity in the winter of 2013-14. Six years later, Yevhenia Zakrevska, one of the lawyers representing the slain activists’ families has gone on hunger strike in a desperate attempt to force Ukraine’s leaders to prevent the collapse of almost all Maidan investigations.

Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada had the chance on 15 November to save investigations into Maidan crimes from imminent collapse. It failed the test and betrayed the families of over 100 Maidan activists killed during the protests – Ukraine’s Revolution of Dignity - and those wounded

Ukraine’s leaders have literally eight days to prevent investigations into crimes against Maidan activists from falling into a black hole from which few, if any, will emerge

Dmytro Rudenko, a Vinnytsa police officer who played a major role in the politically motivated persecution of Ukrainian human rights activist, Dmytro Groysman, which may have caused the latter’s death, has now received a new important post

The families of those killed during Euromaidan, lawyers and civic activists have addressed a desperate plea to Ukraine’s leaders, warning that all progress in Maidan investigations will be lost unless action is taken immediately.

The Head of the Department of Special Investigations, Serhiy Horbatyuk and another top prosecutor investigating crimes against Euromaidan activists, Oleksiy Donsky are facing dismissal after they refused to sign an agreement to the use of anonymous denunciations not subject to official confirmation