Once again the Gongadze investigation turns away from the main suspects.
As the 11th anniversary of journalist Georgiy Gongadze’s murder approaches this fall, prosecutors appear to be angling yet again to ensure that the two highest-ranking suspects – ex-President Leonid Kuchma and parliament speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn – never face their day in court.
On March 2, a Kyiv appeals court sided with General Prosecutor Viktor Pshonka in downgrading the status of the investigative journalist’s murder on Sept. 16, 2000.
Pshonka is a key ally of current President Viktor Yanukovych, who was handed his start in national politics when Kuchma appointed him prime minister in 2002.
Now authorities consider the murder “a killing on verbal command” rather than a contract killing.
The new designation could pin the ultimate blame for ordering Gongadze’s murder and kidnapping on the late Interior Minister Yuriy Kravchenko, killed by two gunshot wounds to the head on March 4, 2005.
[Oleksiy] Pukach told me that he was introduced to [Volomyr] Lytvyn at that meeting as ‘the man who carried out the order to get rid of [Georgiy] Gongadze. Pukach told me that Kravchenko then asked Lytvyn to pass on to former President Leonid Kuchma that his subordinates would carry out any order.”
– Oleh Musienko, Pukach’s former lawyer.
This could shield from prosecution Kuchma and Lytvyn, then Kuchma’s chief of staff, whom many suspect of involvement in ordering the killing.
Kuchma and Lytvyn have repeatedly denied any connection with the murder. Yanukovych, just as his predecessor Viktor Yushchenko did, has pledged to press for justice in the case.
Kravchenko allegedly gave orders to Interior Ministry General Oleksiy Pukach, who has been in jail for nearly two years without trial, to carry out the killing with three other police officers now serving prison sentences.
The Gongadze case is the leading symbol of the lawlessness and impunity that epitomized the Kuchma era, from 1994-2005, and that still bedevils the nation today.
After being trailed by police for weeks, Gongadze – the co-founder of Ukrainska Pravda website – was kidnapped near his office, driven to the country by four officers, beaten, strangled, beheaded and buried.
Although Pukach reportedly admitted to carrying out the murder and implicated both Kuchma and Lytvyn, his testimony hasn’t been made public. But according to his former lawyer, Oleh Musienko, Pukach has testified that Kuchma and Lytvyn should stand trial for the killing.
Pukach’s three subordinates – Valeriy Kostenko, Mykola Protasov and Oleksandr Popovych – were convicted in March 2008 and sentenced to 12-13 years in prison. Pukach went into hiding from 2003 until police caught up with him hiding out in rural Ukraine on July 21, 2009.
Pukach’s former lawyer, Musienko, said that Pukach told investigators that Kravchenko, the dead interior minister, former deputy Mykhailo Dzhiha (now governor of Vinnitsa Oblast) and Lytvyn met In Kravchenko’s Kyiv office on Sept. 17, 2000, the day after Gongadze’s murder.
“Pukach told me that he was introduced to Lytvyn at that meeting as ‘the man who carried out the order to get rid of Gongadze,’” Musienko said. “Pukach told me that Kravchenko then asked Lytvyn to pass on to former President Leonid Kuchma that his subordinates would carry out any order.”
Take care of him [Georgiy Gongadze]. We need some Chechens to kidnap him for ransom.”
– A voice that sounds like [Leonid] Kuchma’s said on recording dated June 12, 2000.
Although Pukach reputedly removed Musienko as his lawyer, Musienko said: “I don’t rule out that Pukach will ask me to represent him again when his case comes to trial.”
If Pukach implicated Kuchma and Lytvyn, it would not be the only basis to suspect them of playing a role in Gongadze’s murder. Tape recordings by ex-Kuchma bodyguard Mykola Melnychenko appear to show that Kuchma, Lytyvn and other high-ranking administration officials expressed displeasure with Gongadze’s journalism and plotted ways to silence him.
“Take care of him,” a voice that sounds like Kuchma’s said on recording dated June 12, 2000. In another recording, an irate Kuchma reportedly said of Gongadze: “We need some Chechens to kidnap him for ransom.”
Kuchma has denied the authenticity of the recordings, which has never been proved conclusively.
People close to the Gongadze family say the appeals court ruling is yet another setback in the search for justice.
“The appeals court ruling means the Gongadze murder case may drag on forever,” Valentyna Telychenko, attorney for Gongadze’s wife, Myroslava, said.
Telychenko said Pukach has for months been reading the government’s case against him, which runs to thousands of pages.
“When he finishes with that, prosecutors will formally present him with the summary of their indictment. The case will then be heard in Kyiv’s Pechersk district court. If the judge during the trial thinks the case should be upgraded back to the status of contract killing, the General Prosecutor’s Office would have to re-open its official investigation and press new charges,” she said.
However, Yuriy Boychenko, a spokesman for the prosecutor general, said Pukach would remain in pretrial detention until his case goes to trial.
“Kyiv’s Pechersk district court on March 3 extended Pukach’s pretrial detention by two months,” Boychenko said. “He will remain in custody until the case against him goes to trial and the court reaches a verdict.”
Even before the March 2 ruling, Andriy Fedur, who represents Gongadze’s mother, Lesya, said he was skeptical that the case would go to trial quickly. Pshonka, the top prosecutor, only last year said the case would go to trial in January.
All perpetrators of this heinous crime, regardless of their rank, influence, and position, must be brought to justice.”
– Nina Ognianova, CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator.
In an open letter addressed to Yanukovych, the U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists on March 2 said it is “deeply disturbed” by the recent actions of Ukrainian authorities that threaten to upend progress in the 10-year-old investigation.
“All perpetrators of this heinous crime, regardless of their rank, influence, and position, must be brought to justice,” CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova said in the letter.
But those seeking justice for Gongadze say the latest development in this case, beset by cover-ups and botched criminal procedures from the start, suggests that the current authorities are as disinterested in getting to the bottom of this case as when the murder happened over 10 years ago.
“There is no way this will end quickly,” said Fedur.
Kyiv Post staff writer Peter Byrne can be reached at [email protected] and Olesia Oleshko can be reached at [email protected].
