The Ukrainska Pravda internet publication has reported that two sources from higher government circles, which are not linked to each other, have confirmed information about a criminal case allegedly opened against former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma (1994-2005) connected with the Sept. 16, 2000 murder of journalist Georgiy Gongadze.
"As expected, a report about this will be publicly released at a press conference by First Deputy Prosecutor General Renat Kuzmin on Tuesday," Ukrainska Pravda reported.
In addition, a range of Ukrainian Internet publications reported that the Prosecutor General’s Office ordered the State Border Service to ban Kuchma from travelling abroad.
According to reports in the mass media on Monday, First Deputy Prosecutor General Renat Kuzmin took a decision to open a criminal case against Kuchma "on suspicion of organizing the murder of Gongadze."
As reported, the press service of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine has no information about a criminal case allegedly opened against Kuchma connected with the murder of Gongadze.
"The press service has no information about this, and we cannot comment on anything," spokesman for the Prosecutor General’s Office Yuriy Boichenko told Interfax-Ukraine on Monday.
Valentyna Telychenko, the lawyer for Gongadze’s widow Myroslava Gongadze, in turn, said that she could neither confirm nor deny this information, because she had not been officially informed about such a resolution.
"I can neither confirm nor deny this, because officially I have not been informed about this," she told Interfax-Ukraine on Monday.
