EDITORIAL: The Gongadze case (07/24/05)

EDITORIAL

The Gongadze case

In the half decade since Ukrainian journalist Heorhii Gongadze was brutally murdered for reporting critically on former President Leonid Kuchma's ruling regime, little has come to light in terms of a resolution to the case.

The July 6 issue of Jane's Intelligence Digest rightly wrote that "the election of pro-Western reformer Viktor Yushchenko as president of Ukraine on January 23 raised hopes that the investigation into the murder of opposition journalist Georgiy [sic] Gongadze would be resolved. However, there is mounting concern that the probe is being obstructed, with potentially serious implications for Ukraine's foreign relations."

This case, still open and unresolved after nearly five years, can potentially hurt President Yushchenko's international credibility, just as it helped isolate former President Leonid Kuchma. Domestically, it has left Ukrainians wondering whether promises made during the Orange Revolution to usher in a new moral government will ever come to fruition.

Mr. Yushchenko pledged publicly over six months ago to bring those responsible for Mr. Gongadze's murder to justice, and he has repeated that pledge on several other occasions.

Asked by foreign journalists about the Gongadze case, Mr. Yushchenko said on November 18, 2004, according to the International Federation of Journalists: "I give you my word that all the high-profile cases closed by Kuchma will be revisited, commissions will be appointed and we will carry out full-scale investigations."

Progress in the case since the presidential inauguration, however, has been slow. This newspaper reported that Mr. Yushchenko announced on March 1 that two police officers were arrested for their direct role in the Gongadze murder, though the president acknowledged that those responsible for giving the order had not yet been found.

Since then, sadly, little of substance has been accomplished and numerous Ukrainian media reports have speculated that Mr. Gongadze's killers remain at large in Ukraine, perhaps still working in prominent positions in the government.

The case has been remarkably complicated and the motives of nearly everyone involved have been eerily obscure. There are indications that members of government may have been connected to Mr. Gongadze's disappearance. And there is evidence that highly placed government officials - including members of Parliament, the Security Service and the Procurator General's Office - may have obstructed investigations into the case.

According to Mr. Gongadze's mother, Lesia, who this month spoke with Kyiv's The Day (Den) newspaper, officials in Mr. Yushchenko's government have offered to pay her and Mr. Gongadze's widow, Myroslava, if the two agreed to drop any future complaints against the state regarding the case.

"Myroslava was offered 100,000 euros to waive all her grievances against Ukraine," Lesia Gongadze told The Day on July 19. "It was meant as a bribe, so that she would keep silent. If it were a court ruling rather than Prime Minister [Yulia] Tymoshenko's offer, she would consider the possibility."

That the current Ukrainian government has offered money to silence Mr. Gongadze's family is particularly troubling, considering that this administration took office saying that honesty, morality and transparency should be hallmarks of the new Ukrainian government.

Making any significant headway in this atmosphere has been difficult, and it has left many Ukrainians with little hope that the case will ever be solved. Both Myroslava and Lesia Gongadze have suggested recently that those who ordered the murder will never be brought to justice, and, indeed, it seems the public agrees with them.

Internationally, the case has become a litmus test of sorts, showing the degree to which Ukraine has progressed along the path to becoming a transparent European state. In fact, various international bodies - among them the Committee to Protect Journalists, the International Federation of Journalists and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe - have all watched the investigation closely, believing that its completion would mark a turning point for Ukraine.

Unfortunately, little in this regard has been accomplished. If Ukraine is to make progress toward becoming an accepted member of the European and world communities its government must ensure that the investigation brings Mr. Gongadze's killers, and those who ordered his abduction, to justice.

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