UKRAINE: PARLIAMENTARY INVESTIGATION BLAMES LYTVYN IN GONGADZE'S DEATH

A lengthy and exhaustive parliamentary investigation in the death of journalist Heorhiy Gongadze has ended with the head of the special investigative commission, MP Hryhory Omelchenko, accusing former Kuchma chief of staff and now parliamentary leader Volodymyr Lytvyn as having instigated the Gongadze slaying.

KYIV, Sept. 21 (FirsTnews) -- In its final report, an interim parliamentary commission investigating the kidnapping and killing of Internet journalist Heorhiy Gongadze five years ago has accused the parliament's speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn of instigating the slaying.

Hryhory Omelchenko, the head of the parliamentary commission said, quoting the findings in the report, that Lytvyn had "instigated the abduction of Gongadze."

The commission’s findings derived from the secret recordings made in former President Leonid Kuchma’s office in which voices resembling those of Lytvyn, then presidential chief of staff, Kuchma and other officials are heard conspiring against Gongadze.

The Omelchenko commission also accused Kuchma and 16 of his cronies and key police officials, including late Interior Minister Yury Kravchenko and former head of Ukraine’s State Security Leonid Derkach of masterminding Gongadze's abduction and death.

Kravchenko, a key witness who reportedly ordered four police officers to “take care” of the journalist, committed suicide in March only hours before he was to be questioned by the prosecutors about Gongadze's death. His death sparked much speculation after his body was found with two gunshot wounds in the head, but investigators insisted it was a clear-cut suicide.

Kuchma, who was also interrogated over Gongadze’s death, has repeatedly questioned the authenticity of the tapes, secretly recorded by his former bodyguard, police Major Mykola Melnychenko, who after the revelations of the recordings fled the country and took all the original tapes with him.

Melnychenko’s escape was aided by Oleksandr Moroz, the head of Ukrainian Socialists, and several other politicians. He was granted political asylum in the United States.

Omelchenko demanded Lytvyn's resignation and a no-confidence vote for Prosecutor General Svyatoslav Piskun for apparent sluggishness in dealing with the Gongadze investigation.

Lytvyn dismissed the commission's report as "a provocation aimed at diverting attention from the real culprits" in Gongadze's death. “I would rather focus on who organized the eavesdropping (of Kuchma’s office) and who aided Melnychenko’s escape,” Lytvyn said. Omelchenko’s commission said it verified the authenticity of Melnychenko tapes.

Ukrainian media has repeatedly speculated that Yevhen Marchuk, a former KGB general and also a former defense minister organized Melnychenko and several other people to eavesdrop on Kuchma’s conversations.

Gongadze, an Internet journalist and the editor of the website Ukrainska Pravda, who wrote about high-level corruption and links between Kuchma’s regime and organized crime, was kidnapped in downtown Kyiv and killed five years ago. His headless body was found in the Tarashcha forest well outside the Ukrainian capital.

The reporter’s remains still lie in a Kyiv morgue since his mother demanded another DNA test for the final identification. Recently, a German laboratory confirmed that the body was indeed that of the missing journalist.

The furor over Gongadze’s death led to a serious decline in the standing of the Kuchma administration in world public opinion. Many believe that the Gongadze death played a substantial role in the events that ultimately ended in last year's mass protests dubbed the Orange Revolution.

The wave of protests that followed a fraudulent presidential vote helped then pro-Western opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko to become Ukraine’s third president.

During the protests and afterwards, Yushchenko said that the resolution of the Gongadze case would be his top priority.

Soon after Yushchenko’s inauguration in January, prosecutors indicted three former policemen for abducting and killing Gongadze.

A fourth suspect, Oleksiy Pukach, who is reported to have personally strangled Gongadze to death, is at large and being sought on an international warrant. At the time of the death, Pukach was a major general of militia and head of the militia criminal investigations division. Ukrainian media has reported that he is now hiding in Israel.

The suspects in custody admitted that they lured Gongadze, who got into a car disguised as a taxi, and took him outside Kyiv where he was beaten and strangled. His body was then doused with gasoline and burned.

Prosecutors later revealed that they had separated the investigation into two parts - the pursuit of those who carried out the killing, and the pursuit of the masterminds. The revelation outraged Gongadze's friends and relatives, who claimed it would allow the masterminds to avoid responsibility.

The parliament on Tuesday dissolved Omelchenko’s commission and ordered it to hand over all the findings to prosecutors and investigators.

The commission also investigated the 2001 death of Ihor Aleksandrov, the owner of TOR TV in Donetsk.

After a series of interviews about corruption in the region, a group of criminals led by former policemen ambushed Aleksandrov in front of his office. He was beaten to death. The culprits are currently on trial.

UKRAINE'S PARLIAMENT SPEAKER ACCUSED IN REPORTER DEATH

By Aleksandar Vasovic, Associated Press Writer
AP, Kiev, Ukraine, Wednesday September 21, 2005 1:16 PM

KIEV, Ukraine - A commission investigating the kidnapping and killing of a
journalist five years ago has accused parliament's speaker of instigating
the slaying, a Web site with the panel's findings said Wednesday.

Heorhiy Gongadze, an Internet journalist who wrote about high-level
corruption, was kidnapped and killed in 2000. His decapitated body was
found in a forest outside Kiev.

Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn had ``instigated the abduction,'' said the
legislative commission. Its findings stemmed from recordings in which voices
resembling those of Lytvyn, former President Leonid Kuchma and other
officials are heard allegedly conspiring against Gongadze, according to a
report posted on a parliamentary Web site Wednesday.

The parliamentary commission also accused Kuchma and 16 of his allies and
police officials, including former Interior Minister Yury Kravchenko of
masterminding Gongadze's abduction and death. Kravchenko, a key witness
and reportedly the one given the order to deal with the journalist,
committed suicide in March, hours before he was to be questioned about
Gongadze's slaying.

Kuchma has repeatedly questioned the authenticity of the tapes, secretly
recorded by his former bodyguard.

In an address to parliament Tuesday, the head of the commission Hrihoriy
Omelchenko demanded Lytvyn's resignation and a no-confidence vote for
Prosecutor General Svyatoslav Piskun.

Lytvyn, Kuchma's former chief of staff, dismissed the commission's report as
"a provocation aimed at diverting attention from the real culprits'' for
Gongadze's death. In the past, Lytvyn has dismissed the allegations,
saying: "I wasn't brought up that way.''

The reporter's death sparked months of opposition protests that ultimately
led to last year's Orange Revolution, which brought pro-Western politician
Viktor Yushchenko to office. The opposition accused Kuchma and his allies
of masterminding Gongadze's death, an accusation he has denied.

A month after Yushchenko's inauguration in January, prosecutors indicted
three former policemen for Gongadze's death. A fourth suspect is at large
and being sought on an international warrant.

Gongadze got into what he thought was a taxi, and then was joined by three
others and driven outside Kiev, according to evidence given by the suspects.
The 31-year-old journalist was beaten and strangled, and his body was
doused with gasoline and burned.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.