Sviatoshynsky district court in Kyiv will question Mikheil Saakashvili, Georgia's ex-president and leader of the New Forces Movement, on February 13 in a case against five former officers of Berkut special police force, charged with killing protestors on Maidan (Independence) Square in February 2014.

Axar.az reports citing Interfax Ukraine.

The court made the decision on Wednesday after two Georgian citizens, Koba Nergadze and Alexander Revazishvili, mentioned Saakashvili in a film aired on Italian television.

"A petition to question Mikheil Saakashvili has been filed by the prosecutor because in the 'Italian video' featuring the so-called 'Georgian snipers' these people are pointing at Saakashvili as the direct coordinator of those events. He witnessed and participated in Maidan [protests], so they think he should be questioned," Oleksandr Horoshynsky, a lawyer for one of the ex-Berkut officers, told Interfax.

The prosecutors have enclosed to their petition Saakashvili's statement of readiness to testify, the lawyer said.

Following a defense petition, the court sent a request to the Ukrainian Justice Ministry to organize a questioning of Nergadze and Revazishvili in the framework of international legal assistance, and now this ministry is obligated to take relevant steps. The procedure requires it to contact the justice ministry in Armenia, because these individuals are currently in that country.

Last November the Italian channel Canale 5, part of Mediaset S. p.A. owned by Italy's ex-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, broadcast a film by the Italian military correspondent Gian Micalessin, "Ukraine: hidden truths." He met three Georgians - Nergadze, Revazishvili and Zalogi Kvaratsekeli - who claim to have acted on the orders to kill both Maidan protestors and Berkut officers.

On December 19, 2017 Sviatoshyn court satisfied the defense petition for Nergadze and Revazisvhili to be questioned in connection with the killing of Maidan protestors.