Body found outside Kyiv may be Gongadze's (11/26/00)

Body found outside Kyiv may be Gongadze's

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - More controversy developed around missing journalist Heorhii Gongadze on November 15 when a close associate identified a headless body found in a wooded region outside Kyiv as being that of Mr. Gongadze.

Officials of Ukraine's Ministry of Internal Affairs, who increased the mystery surrounding the body when they silently and quickly moved it from a local morgue to Kyiv hours after the positive identification became public, have refused to either confirm or deny the identity of the corpse until after extensive tests including a DNA matching are conducted.

"An authoritative team led by chief forensic expert Yurii Shupyk visited the site," explained First Vice Minister of Internal Affairs Mykola Ghiha on November 16, "but they have not identified the body as Heorhii Gongadze."

State militia officials initially reported that the body, which was found in a wooded area outside the town of Tarascha in the southern part of Kyiv Oblast, appeared to be that of a much older man and probably had been buried for a lengthy period of time, but Mr. Ghiha retracted that statement and said extensive chemical, biological, histological and DNA analysis would have to be completed before identification is made. He said the process would take at least a week, although other state militia officials said it could take up to a month.

Mr. Ghiha could not explain why Tarascha's medical examiner, Ihor Vorotinsev, not only gave every indication that they body was that of Mr. Gongadze, but also issued a death certificate to Olena Prytula, the editor-in-chief of Mr. Gongadze's controversial Internet newspaper, Ukrainska Pravda. He said only that the death certificate was issued under pressure from people present at the morgue with the editor.

Ms. Prytula, however, explained in a statement released on the Ukrainska Pravda website that she was convinced the corpse belonged to the missing journalist. She stated that while the body was all but impossible to identify because it was badly disfigured, Mr. Vorotinsev made detailed drawings of jewelry found on the body, which closely resembled the unique accoutrements that Mr. Gongadze wore, including a bracelet, a ring and a talisman that hung around his neck.

Internal Affairs Ministry officials have confirmed that metal decorations were found on the body and would be presented to Mr. Gongadze's wife for identification after they are analyzed.

Ms. Prytula said the medical examiner also showed her an x-ray of the right arm, which contained metal fragments, and a bullet slug removed from it. Mr. Gongadze had suffered a grenade wound in his lower right arm during combat in the Abkhazia uprising in the early 1990s in Georgia. In addition, the medical examiner confirmed that the contents of the corpse's stomach matched the food that Mr. Gongadze ate on the day of his disappearance.

In an interview given to the Kyiv newspaper Fakty on November 16, Mr. Vorotinsev had not only supported the facts as presented by Ms. Prytula but stated that he believed the body was covered with a chemical to make the body decompose more quickly so as to make it appear older. He also added that the corpse was not merely moved to Kyiv, but stolen from under his eyes by law enforcement officials.

Two days after Ms. Prytula's visit, law enforcement officials arrested the Tarascha medical examiner for prematurely divulging information and issuing a death certificate. Procurator General Mykhailo Potebenko, who announced the arrest during a weekly press briefing, said Mr. Vorotinsev had no right to discuss sensitive information with journalists before a final identification had been made.

"You may not be aware of this, but there is a law on the books that forbids professionals from divulging information of the sort during the course of an investigation," explained Mr. Potebenko.

The latest twists in the Gongadze mystery came after a local resident of Tarascha, a raion center of Kyiv Oblast located near Bila Tserkva, discovered an arm sticking out of a makeshift shallow grave in a wooded area outside the town on November 2 and informed authorities. They unearthed a decapitated body badly disfigured by a chemical substance and transferred it to the raion medical examiner.

Four days later law enforcement officials contacted Ms. Prytula to ask her to describe jewelry that the missing journalist might have worn and what he ate before he left her apartment the day of his disappearance. The Ukrainska Pravda editor got wind of rumors that a body had been found in the Tarascha region a few days later and traveled there on November 15 with a member of her staff.

Mr. Gongadze, a controversial Ukrainian journalist, vanished without a trace on September 16 after leaving the apartment of his editor-in-chief to meet his wife and twin daughters. While Ukraine's law enforcement officials have been unable to find any evidence of Mr. Gongadze's whereabouts since his disappearance, rumors of every sort have surfaced, including speculation by the state militia that he is hiding in his native Georgia.

Among the theories behind the reason for his disappearance and probable death, the most widely believed is that his aggressive reporting and writing on sensitive political topics may have insulted or compromised influential politicians. However, there are those who do not discount that his disappearance may be tied to bad personal business dealings or romantic involvement.

The Gongadze case has attracted the attention of Ukraine's officials at the highest levels. President Leonid Kuchma told students during a public appearance the day after the Tarascha corpse was discovered that he would like to see closure in the case, but does not believe it is proper to look for a quick ending.

"Let's hope that he is alive," said Mr. Kuchma, adding, "Don't hurry to bury the man, as they did yesterday."

Some lawmakers, however, such as Oleksander Zhyr and Volodymyr Filenko of the Reform and Order Party, are concerned that law enforcement agencies may have reason to hide certain facts. Mr. Zhyr said at a press conference on November 20 that, while further investigation and tests are needed before a determination is made on whom the corpse belongs to, it must be done with civilian controls.

"There is some doubt that the expert analysis will not proceed without falsifications," said Mr. Zhyr.

He said that, according to information he received, the body was that of a man no more than 35 years old and that the estimated time of death coincides with the date Mr. Gongadze disappeared.

Mr. Filenko said he is demanding that law enforcement officials respond to an extensive list of unanswered questions, including public identification of the jewelry and whether the fragments found in the arm are parts of a grenade.

He also suggested that a third country should conduct the DNA analysis.

"Somebody may not benefit from proving that the body found in Tarascha is Gongadze," said Mr. Filenko.

As The Weekly was going to press, Interfax-Ukraine reported that an unidentified head had been found in the Tarascha region on November 21. The report said that, while law enforcement officials had not established its identity, it appeared to be that of a woman.

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