You're reading: Melnychenko missing – or in United States?

Authorities are searching for Mykola Melnychenko, the former presidential security guard who claims to have secretly recorded conversations that implicate Leonid Kuchma and other top officials in crimes during the ex-president’s 1994-2005 tenure.

Leading Ukrainian news website Ukrainska Pravda reported, however, they have talked to Melnychenko and that he is in the United States and safe. “I’m in the U.S. and I’m going to file a lawsuit against Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka for spreading untruthful information. I’m not hiding from any investigation.”

However, Pshonka said on Oct. 13 that “there is an official search warrant out.”

A key witness in high profile criminal cases and, according to reports and sources, a target of an ongoing treason investigation, Melnychenko was under the guard of Ukrainian law enforcement officials. But according to sources, he has been missing for weeks.

Ukrainian officials – be they embarrassed or confused – had refused to talk about the sensitive matter until Pshonka’s confirmation.

The disappearance of Melnychenko raises further questions about the competence of Ukrainian law enforcement and the nation’s rule of law and casts yet another cloud over the 11-year old and still-unsolved investigation into the murder of journalist Georgiy Gongadze.

In past interviews, Melnychenko claims his recordings caught Kuchma and other top officials engaging in criminal activities, including the pilfering of state assets and the plot to kill Gongadze on Sept. 16, 2000.

The disappearance of Melnychenko comes as a secret trial is under way of ex-police Gen. Oleksiy Pukach for Gongadze’s murder.

Three Pukach subordinates are convicted in the murder and serving prison sentences. Pukach’s supervisor, ex-Interior Minister Yuriy Kravchenko, died from two gunshot wounds to the head on March 5, 2005, the day he was supposed to be questioned in the case. Meanwhile, Kuchma, who was close to Kravchenko, has faced criminal charges since March that he exceeded his authority as president in giving an order that led to Gongadze’s murder. No trial date has been set for Kuchma.

On Oct. 7, a high-ranking law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Melnychenko “was under the watch of security officials. But I can confirm that his whereabouts are now not known.”

Melnychenko’s lawyer Pavlo Sychov was surprised to hear that a search warrant has been issued for his client, adding that his travel domestically and abroad had not been previously restricted.

Sychov told Interfax-Ukraine news agency on Oct. 13 that he let a Security Service of Ukraine investigator know that Melnychenko was “outside of Ukraine due to life threats.”

The SBU, which allegedly had Melnychenko under guard during an ongoing criminal investigation on suspected treason, has in recent days repeatedly refused to discuss the matter.

Melnychenko’s mobile number has been shut off for weeks.

It is unclear whether Melnychenko was barred from leaving Ukraine. He had spent years hiding out in Europe and the United States after his recordings were made public in 2000. However, on Sept. 7, Melnychenko complained that authorities prohibited him from crossing the border into Poland.

Melnychenko’s other lawyer, Mykola Nedilko, told journalists on Oct. 5 that he hadn’t seen his client recently. Nedilko reported that a suspected explosive device was found in Melnychenko’s residence in Kyiv Oblast in late September.

Melnychenko’s disappearance remains shrouded in mystery, much like his recordings of conversations in Kuchma’s presidential office, allegedly made for hundreds of hours during 1999-2000. Melnychenko and his notorious recordings are still in the center of a saga of alleged cover-ups and numerous wrongdoings by top officials caught on tape.

On Oct. 13, Kuchma’s lawyers suggested that Melnychenko fled to avoid justice; however, the tapes have been declared to be material evidence in the case.

Pro-democracy and journalist activists fear that officials are continuing to cover up for high-level officials who could have masterminded and ordered the Gongadze murder, as well as many other unprosecuted crimes that continue to haunt the nation.