Committee to Protect Journalists seeks invesigation into Kolomiyets' death (11/24/02)

Committee to Protect Journalists seeks invesigation into Kolomiyets' death

NEW YORK - The Committee to Protect Journalists has called on Ukrainian and Belarusian authorities to "investigate Mykhailo Kolomiyets' death thoroughly and to consider all possible motives."

A body suspected to be that of Mr. Kolomiyets, director of the Ukrainski Novyny news agency, was found on October 30 hanging from a tree in a forest in northwestern Belarus.

However, several journalists at Ukrainski Novyny (Ukrainian News) fear that Mr. Kolomiyets could have been targeted because of the agency's independent reporting. No specific incidents or reports were cited.

"We are saddened by this tragic discovery," said Ann Cooper, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

In recent years, CPJ noted, Ukraine has gained notoriety as a dangerous place for journalists, most notably with the murders of Heorhii Gongadze and Ihor Aleksandrov.

Mr. Gongadze was editor of the Internet news site Ukrainska Pravda (www.pravda.com.ua), where he often reported on alleged high-level government corruption in Ukraine. He disappeared on September 16, 2000, after several weeks of harassment by police officials.

In early November 2000, a headless corpse believed to be that of Mr. Gongadze was discovered in a forest outside Kyiv. Audiotapes have linked President Leonid Kuchma to the journalists' disappearance, but Mr. Kuchma has denied involvement in the crime.

Mr. Aleksandrov, director of the independent television company Tor, which is based in Slaviansk, eastern Ukraine, in July 2001 was beaten to death with baseball bats as he entered Tor's offices.

A homeless man, accused of the murder was acquitted in May for lack of evidence and died of a heart attack two months later. According to recent news reports cited by CPJ, an investigation into Mr. Aleksandrov's murder may be reopened.

The Committee to Protect Journalists is a New York-based, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to the defense of press freedom worldwide. For more information about press conditions in Ukraine, readers may log on to www.cpj.org.

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