International Federation of Journalists announces inquiry into Gongadze case

BRUSSELS, Belgium - The Brussels-based International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) announced that it is establishing an inquiry commission "to examine the apparent failure of legal and judicial processes in the Gongadze case and the reaction of institutions and civil society to the case."

The IFJ - the world's largest organization of journalists, as it represents more than 500,000 journalists in over 100 countries - also stated that it needs "the support of international civil society to complete our investigation" and explained that it is establishing "an oversight committee of individuals and organizations to support the inquiry.

Earlier, on June 22, the federation had noted in a press release that the government of Ukraine "must face the truth and take responsibility" over the brutal killing of opposition journalist Heorhii Gongadze (1969-2000).

"The time is right to clear the air," said Aidan White, IFJ general secretary. "We need to know the truth, pure and simple. Only a fresh investigation that is independent, transparent and stripped of self-interest and political intrigue will deliver justice."

In a letter sent out earlier this week, the IFJ secretary-general wrote: "International bodies including the EU [European Union], Amnesty International and our own federation, as well as commissions of the Ukrainian Parliament that have followed the case, have repeatedly criticized the serious shortcomings of the investigation: for example, a key witness died last year in police custody, and last month a key suspect, a senior intelligence officer indicted for destroying essential documents, was released without charge. We are concerned that the Council of Europe has compounded the difficulties surrounding the case by conducting a superficial and inconclusive investigation that failed to deal with the central concerns raised by international bodies."

The federation went on to note: "We believe this is a pivotal case for media freedom in Europe and internationally. If the case is not properly investigated, it will encourage dictators and bullies everywhere to use violence against journalists, believing that they can do so with impunity. The IFJ is committed to preventing such impunity. For this reason we have set up an inquiry commission to examine the apparent failure of legal and judicial processes in the Gongadze case and the reaction of institutions and civil society to the case."

Further details about the inquiry's work may be found on the federation's website at http://www.ifjgongadze.org/.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, July 11, 2004, No. 28, Vol. LXXII

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