The central investigatory office of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry will investigate the case of the disappearance of Vasyl Klymentyev, chief editor of the Kharkiv-based weekly Novyi Stil, Ukrainian Interior Minister Anatoliy Mohyliov has said.
“We have a suspicion that representatives from law enforcement agencies, both working and dismissed, could be involved. That is why, to avoid a leakage of information, the case will be transferred to the central office,” he said at a press conference in Kyiv on Thursday.
Mohyliov noted that a criminal case on the disappearance of the journalist was opened in connection with a possible murder. According to the minister, there are enough reasons to believe Klymentyev to be dead.
“We have enough reasons to say that he [the journalist] is dead. Collecting primary materials we found many critical articles about certain persons in Kharkiv region,” Mohyliov said.
In addition, commenting on statements of some politicians that a change in the management of Kharkiv police was the reason for the murder, the minister said that today there are no reasons to talk about a change of the current management of Kharkiv police.
Mohyliov insists on the transparency of the investigation on this case. “All information has to be transparent and available to the community… to avoid any insinuations around this case,” the minister added.
All people mentioned in the articles of the missing journalists have been interrogated in the course of the investigation, he said.
Klymentyev, chief editor for the Kharkiv-based weekly Novyi Stil, disappeared on August 11 and is still missing. His colleagues have expressed concern that Klymentyev’s disappearance is connected to his professional work.
As reported, the Interior Ministry said that the relatives of the journalist reported his disappearance at 2230 on August 12. Police officers established during enquiries that on August 11 Klymentyev left home along with an unknown man in a silver BMW car for an unknown destination. On August 15 the investigation office of the Dzerzhynsky district police department in Kharkiv opened a criminal case under Article 115 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (premeditated murder). Various theories about the journalist’s disappearance are currently being considered, including those linked to his work as a journalist.
On August 17, vacationers found a mobile phone with a SIM card belonging to Klymentyev in a boat in the Pechenihy reservoir (Siversky Donets River).
