Posted on 03/04/2005 1:23:00 AM PST by HAL9000
KIEV (Reuters) - Former Ukrainian Interior Minister Yuri Kravchenko, linked to the murder of investigative journalist Georgiy Gongadze, has been found dead, the SBU security service agency said on Friday.SBU spokeswoman Marina Ostapenko said by telephone that Kravchenko's body had been found at his country house near Kiev.
A team of investigators was on its way to the site and a preliminary investigation pointed to suicide, she said.
Kravchenko, who was interior minister at the time of Gongadze's murder in 2000, had been due to give evidence on Friday to prosecutors in connection with the case.
President Viktor Yushchenko said this week that Gongadze's murder had been solved. Three policemen have been detained and a fourth is being sought.
The discovery of Gongadze's headless corpse outside Kiev became post-Soviet Ukraine's most celebrated crime case and a turning point in the 10-year term of former president Leonid Kuchma.
Kuchma was accused of involvement in the murder on the basis of tapes of conversations in his office made by a former bodyguard. But he has always denied any connection with it and no conclusive evidence was ever presented.
Considering his VP earned $11 billion running the gas sector while he was prime minister and that his 3rd in charge is head of the Socialist party and his 4th is another oligarch and his former body guards were Una-Unso (Nazies like the ones who beat up a black US diplomat in Kiev this week), I'd wait off on any celebrations.
Just remember, both sides were communist apartacheks and both sides are stacked with oligarches (like Tymoshenko). New boss, same as the old boss.
If it was murder, it's interesting that Yushchenko was quick to dismiss it as suicide. Kinda as quick as Saakashvili was to dismiss Zhadia's death as "accidental".
Slain official's note helpful to probe:[World News]: KIEV, Ukraine, March 5 : Ukraine's top police officer said Saturday the nation's slain former interior minister was found with a note containing useful information about his death.
Alexander Turchinov, the Ukraine Security Service chief, also revealed former Ukrainian Interior Minister Yuri Kravchenko had been shot twice Friday in his head, Itar-Tass reported.
Kravchenko's hand-written note concerns the murder of an investigative reporter, Georgy Gongadze, and blames former Prime Minister Leonid Kuchma for the killing, Turchinov said.He did not disclose other details about the note that is expected to be helpful during the investigation into Gongadze's death.
Seeking to explain how someone can die from two self-inflicted gunshot wounds to the head, Turchinov said Kravchenko shot himself initially in the chin and mouth, probably because his hand was not steady, and then a second time in his temple.
Kravchenko's death came the same day he was scheduled to testify before prosecutors concerning the reporter's killing.
- -- Copyright 2005 by United Press International.
None of this would ever have happened if Kuchma's chosen successor Yanukovych had won. All of Kuchma's crimes would have stayed buried. Now the rats are deserting the sinking ship and the oligarchs who supported Yanukovych are trying to bump off everyone who knows where the bodies are buried.
If you read the article, Yuschenko didn't say it was suicide. He said that the investigation should be taken under control.
The suicide claim didn't come from Yuschenko's mouth. Right now it sounds like lousy writing to me.
Why would the sitting government be embarrassed by a witness that would be implicating the former government?
Didn't Kuchma supposedly order the killing? They have him on tape right?
You're deflecting. Stay on topic, this is about the killing.
Not that woman.
Thanks for the ping. Interesting.
Well his chief of investigations has said definitly suicide: two bullets to the head.
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