KIEV, October 17. /TASS/. A district court in Kharkov, Ukraine has convicted four participants in demonstrations in front of the Kharkov regional administration in April 2014, who were protesting against the anti-government demonstrations and violence in Kiev’s Independence square, the Kharkov Region Prosecutor’s Office has said.
"Two men (y.o.b. 1983 and 1987) have been sentenced to five years in jail. Another two (y.o.b. 1986 and 1983) got five-year prison terms suspended for three years," the court said without disclosing the convicts’ names.
The chief of a department at the Kharkov regional prosecutor’s office, Igor Chub, has said a total of 64 people are charged with complicity in clashes near the regional administration’s building.
In February 2014, after a government coup and the ousting of President Viktor Yanukovich Russian-speaking eastern areas of Ukraine, including Kharkov, saw mass protests.
The standoff in Kharkov between Euromaidan opponents and supporters was originally peaceful. Then attempts at seizing the building of the local administration eventually followed.
On April 6 and 7, 2014 tensions in Kharkov peaked. After massive unrest anti-maidan opponents seized the administration and proclaimed a Kharkov People’s Republic. Although pro-Russian sentiment in the region was strong, the supporters of an independent republic suffered a defeat. Ukrainian police regained control of the administration building and later detained 65 protesters.