Prosecutor claims confessions in Gongadze murder case

Committee to Protect Journalists

NEW YORK - Ukraine's procurator general said on April 4 that two former police officers arrested in March as suspects in the 2000 murder of Internet journalist Heorhii Gongadze have confessed to the killing, according to local and international press reports.

Vyacheslav Astapov, a spokesman for the procurator general's office, said the officers were cooperating with investigators in providing details about the crime, The Associated Press reported. The reported confessions are the latest in a series of developments in the high-profile case, which had marred the integrity of the Ukrainian government and justice system.

In an interview with the news website Ukrainska Pravda (www.pravda.com.ua), which was once edited by Gongadze, President Yushchenko said the two former police officers had led the investigators to the crime scene and had "demonstrated how it all happened." The officers had been charged with murder shortly after they were detained in early March.

"We are encouraged by the progress in the Gongadze case. But to truly end this grim chapter in Ukraine's history and set the course for press freedom, authorities must identify and prosecute all individuals responsible for this horrible crime," CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper said.

In a separate development, the Strasbourg, France-based European Court of Human Rights agreed on March 31 to hear a lawsuit filed by Myroslava Gongadze, widow of the slain journalist, against the Ukrainian government.

According to local and international press reports, in her claim, Ms. Gongadze said that Ukrainian authorities failed to protect her husband, and she accused them of creating a climate of fear by issuing conflicting statements about the investigation, the news agency ITAR-TASS reported. She filed the claim on September 16, 2002.

Ms. Gongadze said she is still pursuing the lawsuit because of what she called the "criminal inaction" of the administration of former President Leonid Kuchma. Ms. Gongadze said she wants to establish an international precedent holding authorities accountable for their actions in such matters, according to local press reports.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, April 17, 2005, No. 16, Vol. LXXIII

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