In a new investigation, the BBC alleges that despite firm denials from Maidan leaders, protesters played an active role in the sniper massacre that claimed the lives of more than 50 demonstrators and 3 police officers. The BBC report revolves around the recollections of "Sergei," who claims that he shot at police from the Music Conservatory but "didn't shoot to kill":

When the shooting started early on the morning of the 20th, Sergei says, he was escorted to the Conservatory, and spent some 20 minutes before 07:00 firing on police, alongside a second gunman. The story used to force Yanukovych from power is being chipped away at His account is partially corroborated by other witnesses. That morning, Andriy Shevchenko, then an opposition MP and part of the Maidan movement, had received a phone call from the head of the riot police on the square. "He calls me and says, 'Andrei, somebody is shooting at my guys.' And he said that the shooting was from the Conservatory." ... Some of the dead were almost certainly shot by snipers, who seemed to be shooting from some of the taller buildings surrounding the square. [RI - Including buildings controlled by the opposition!] Lawyers for the victims and sources in the general prosecutor's office have told the BBC that when it comes to investigating deaths that could not have been caused by the riot police, they have found their efforts blocked by the courts.

The BBC tries to frame the event as valiant demonstrators "fighting back" against the Berkut officers; however, the simple admission that Maidan leaders covered up involvement in the killings is nothing less than extraordinary, especially coming from the BBC. However, the BBC fails to pursue the story to its logical conclusion—that the official narrative of the sniper attacks is full of holes.

Some of the most damning evidence of Maidan involvement in the massacre comes from an extremely thorough, on-the-ground investigation by a German television station:

[video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ew9NPPtYScY]

The television report makes a very convincing case that most (if not all) of the sniper victims were shot from behind—and from buildings which were completely under the control of Maidan protesters (the Conservatory and Hotel Ukraina, among others). The German investigative team interviews a forensics expert, a doctor who treated wounded protestors and police, and even a lawyer representing relatives of the victims—all of whom raise serious questions about the official narrative (a handful of blood-thirsty Berkut officers operating under orders from Yanukovych, who had just cut a deal with Maidan leaders).

Furthermore, the BBC's report is consistent with an academic paper authored by Ivan Katchanovski, a Professor of Political Science at the University of Ottawa and formerly a visiting scholar at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University. Some of his findings include:

A video taken by the BBC depicts snipers who fired on protesters from the Hotel Ukraina, and the shooter was then identified as wearing a green helmet as those worn by Euromaidan protesters (p.7), traces and bullet holes also indicate the shooting came from the hotel (p.8).

At least 12 public buildings were occupied by snipers or spotters. The new Ukrainian Government’s investigation did not address these issues (p.5).

Snipers fired on both police and protesters (pp. 6-7). A commander of Berkut said that snipers from the hotel fired at his people (pp.8-9)

A radio report of the Alfa police commanders states that about ten people from the Music Conservatory went to the Dnipro Hotel with their arms hidden while another ten went to Hotel Ukraina.

This is confirmed by other radio exchanges (p.11). Radio exchanges were later juxtaposed by Euromaidan activists with other photos to present SBU snipers as responsible for the shooting (p.12).

However, the public video did not include other radio transmissions of police units regarding civilians who were carrying weapons in bags (p.12).

It appears that snipers targeted international journalists but not Euromaidan film crew (p.17)

Shortly after shootings carried out by snipers, representatives of the far-right Svoboda, Fatherland and the Radical Party, spoke at Maidan and accused the Yanukovich government of carrying out the massacre (p.19)

According to a statement by a EuroMaidan figure, 11 members of the “Berkut” police unit were wounded by snipers who fired from the Music Conservatory building. (p.21)

Witnesses claim that groups from West Ukraine took over the Music Conservatory building that day on the same morning and that some of them had guns (p.24)

The exact identity of the snipers or those who hired them is still unknown (p.26)

While video depicting Berkut police firing was used by Maidan as evidence that they fired at protesters, Ivan Katchanovski writes that “the analysis of the publicly available evidence is inconclusive whether Berkut and Omega killed any of the protesters, specifically unarmed ones, because there were other shooters killing the protesters at the same very time” (p.27).

There is no evidence of Yanukovich ordering police forces to shoot at protesters nor have radio transmissions of various police units suggested this , commanders of various police groups denied receiving such orders (p.27)

The BBC report hardly gets at the root of this massive abortion of justice. But it's a start. The official narrative is slowly unraveling.