The subject of establishing those who ordered the killing of journalist Georgy Gongadze in 2000 could again become relevant in case of a change of political elites after the presidential elections in 2015, Chairman of the Penta Center for Applied Political Studies Volodymyr Fesenko has said.
“There could be the prospect [of establishing who ordered the killing]… Anyway, I think that they will return to this subject if not now, then, for example, during a change of power, if it happens in two years. I don’t rule out that there could at least be an investigation into these statements [by Oleksiy Pukach, the convicted former chief of the external surveillance department of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry], under a respective appeal from the defense team,” he said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine on Tuesday.
“But can it be proved? I’m rather skeptical here. The point is that the key witness – [former Interior Minister Yuriy] Kravchenko – is not alive. It’s obvious that he was the organizer, at least on the basis of indirect signs… Since the main witness, the main link in the chain, that is Kravchenko, is not alive, only some indirect signs can work. In my opinion, statements by Pukach are not enough here,” the analyst added.
He said that it was legally necessary to investigate these statements and certain investigations should be conducted.
“And then let the court decide how weighty the evidence of the involvement of [former Parliament Speaker Volodymyr] Lytvyn or [former President Leonid] Kuchma is, or whether such evidence is not sufficient,” Fesenko said.
The political scientist said that Pukach’s statement during the announcement of the verdict against him – that the sentence will be clear “when Kuchma and Lytvyn sit next to me” – would again arouse interest in the subject of who ordered Gongadze’s killing.
On January 29, 2013, Kyiv’s Pechersky District Court found former chief of the external surveillance department of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry, Oleksiy Pukach, guilty of killing Gongadze and sentenced him to life in prison. The court also stripped Pukach of his lieutenant general rank and obliged him to pay UAH 500,000 to Gongadze’s widow, Myroslava Gongadze, and UAH 100,000 to journalist Oleksiy Podolsky.
