Witness's conscious clear; says he swore an oath of loyalty to Ukraine, and not the president to help carry out criminal orders
nted a transcript of videotaped testimony provided by Mykola Melnychenko, a former security service employee working in the guard of President Leonid Kuchma, claiming that voice recordings are proof that the president ordered the disappearance of opposition journalist Georgy Gongadze.
Outspoken opposition journalist Georgy Gongadze disappeared on Sept. 16 after leaving the offices of Ukrainska Pravda, the on-line newspaper that he founded.
After representatives of Ukraine’s mass media demanded an investigation into the journalist’s disappearance, President Kuchma said that he had taken the matter under his personal control.
From the very beginning, the Gongadze case was plagued with what appeared to be the incompetence of a number of bodies officially investigating the matter, including the Security Service (SBU), the Interior Ministry and the General Prosecutor’s Office.
In mid-November, a beheaded body, badly damaged by chemicals, which were applied to hasten its decomposition, was found in a forest just outside of Kyiv.
Representatives of mass media and friend’s of Gongadze claimed that the body was most likely that of the missing journalist based, among other things, on descriptions of jewelry found with the body that many said was jewelry that Gongadze was known to wear.
To date, an official investigation into the body’s identity has failed to reveal whether it belongs to the missing journalist.
On Nov. 28, Socialist Party leader Oleksandr Moroz made public recordings that he said comprise an order from President Kuchma to several of his top aides to sideline Gongadze, and a report on that order’s fulfillment.
Kuchma and the aides implicated by Moroz in Gongadze’s disappearance filed libel suits with the General Prosecutor against the Socialist Party leader. Moroz responded by saying that he is prepared to support his claims against the president in court.
The Gongadze affair has already captured the attention of the world community and international mass media, with various highly respected international organizations demanding that the audio tapes allegedly linking President Kuchma to Gongadze’s disappearance undergo analysis by independent experts from outside Ukraine.
On Dec. 7, three members of Ukraine’s parliament traveled to an undisclosed destination in Europe to videotape testimony of a former SBU employee who says that he was responsible for making and passing on to Moroz the recordings in question of the president’s conversations.
The following is the English-language translation of the transcript of the SBU officer’s videotaped testimony.
We, members of the parliamentary temporary investigative commission, Members of Parliament Viktor Shyshkyn, Serhy Holovaty and Oleksandr Zhyr record, according to the decree of Parliament, dated September 1, 2000, on video, according to the demands of a number of articles of Ukraine’s Criminal Code, and have obtained explanations from Melnychenko.
Would you please state your surname, name and patronymic?
I am a reserve major of Ukraine’s Security Service, Melnychenko, Mykola Ivanovych.
Name your last position, please.
My individual post – senior security officer, assigned to the Ukrainian president’s guard department.
Your last place of work?
Guard department of Ukraine’s president.
Did you have access to the buildings that the president used?
Yes, I did.
As a result of which duties and to what buildings?
During the fulfillment of my official duties and to all the buildings that the president used.
When and under what conditions was the record, which you handed to People’s Deputy Oleksandr Moroz, made?
The recording, or to be more exact, the documenting of Ukraine’s president, I started after the moment when, while fulfilling my official duties, I became witness to a criminal order given by Leonid Kuchma; and only after I learned that this order was fulfilled, I began to document further affairs.
Over what period of time was the recording made?
Documentation of the president’s conversations in his office were made over a lengthy period, and those materials, believe me, are enough to prove that Ukraine’s president acted not for the sake of Ukraine’s people and society.
How were the recordings made technically? What device was used for collecting information?
Digital Dictaphone.
Where and how was the device installed?
The digital Dictaphone was placed directly in the president’s office under the sofa. When entering the president’s office, the soft furniture corner is on the left, and the Dictaphone was placed under the sofa.
Is the device in the same place now?
No, it is not there at present.
Where is the device now?
In a safe place.
Is it under your control?
Yes.
Could you present it the event of the need to conduct an independent analysis?
I am ready to present this device for independent analysis, but independent analysis cannot exist in Ukraine.
Did you conduct a rerecording of the tape?
The materials I handed to MP Moroz contain only fragments of the records I have. I did not hand the entire conversations of Kuchma and Kravchenko, but only fragments regarding the Gongadze case, his disappearance and Kuchma’s order to…
What compelled you to make these recordings?
After I learned whom we are ruled by, what orders are made, as an officer who swore to serve Ukraine, I had to document and pass on (the recordings) to allow the residents to learn whom they are ruled by at present. I was doing that to put an end to the criminal activity.
What guided your activity?
After I learned about the criminal order, and after this criminal order was implemented, these circumstances forced me to start documenting these conversations.
Clarify what information, and concerning what people and what orders were recorded?
Ukraine’s president Kuchma gave orders to the Head of the State Tax Administration Azarov, Interior Minister Kravchenko and Head of the Security Service Derkach.
The orders were aimed at abolishing the mass media, non-controllable by the regime, and in opposition to Kuchma, such as Silski Visti, Tovarysh, Hrani, Vechirni Visti, Zerkalo Nedeli, Svoboda newspapers.
He also ordered to suppress the BBC and Svoboda radio stations. The orders also touched upon a number of enterprises, banks and funds.
He also gave orders concerning judicial and executive bodies to suppress the resistance of MPs who tried to change something and struggled.
The following people were named: Balashov, Holovaty, Kostenko, Tymoshenko, Tkachenko, Moroz, Marchuk, Liudmyla Suprun, Yermak, Tyeryokhin, Omelchenko and other surnames, which I do not remember now, but concerning which he ordered to choke. There is documented proof of this.
Is there documented proof for his orders concerning the interception of MPs’ conversations?
Yes, there is. Ukraine’s president directly ordered SBU head Derkach to intercept everybody and everything, to be more exact – Moroz, Medvedchuk, Tymoshenko and others.
From the very beginning Kuchma ordered Derkach, Kravchenko and Azarov not to forgive anyone working against us. And there was the command – to choke and destroy.
Why Gongadze?
I don’t know. Kuchma called head of (presidential) administration Lytvyn and instructed him to think how and what to do concerning Gongadze. Then, after 2-3 minutes, Lytvyn entered the president’s office and there they had a discussion. Kuchma says: “Maybe a court could do something?”; Lytvyn says: “No, let Kravchenko influence him with different methods.”
Would you please clarify the aim of the recording of these conversations?
The aim was to stop the criminal activity of this regime to let the people clean themselves of dirt and outright lies, which are being delivered every day.
What method did you choose to fulfill this aim.
The method I chose is documenting conversations and a search for the person who could make them public.
To whom did you give these materials?
I handed them to MP Moroz, Oleksandr Oleksandrovych.
When did you pass on these materials?
In mid-October.
When transferring these materials, did you discuss with Oleksandr Moroz the method of their usage or the aim of that usage?
Yes, at a meeting with Moroz, I stated the condition for making them public obligatory, to inform all the public about their existence and real activity of the president.
Besides Moroz, did you offer these materials to anyone, and did you intend to offer other people to make them public?
I had doubts when searching for the person to hand them to . After I collected these materials, I made certain that, aside from Moroz, there was no other person I could trust. I did not contact anyone else except Moroz.
Information has been spread in Ukraine that before Moroz these materials were offered to other MPs or other political forces, but after some time passed, the contact was broken and the materials allegedly reached Moroz.
Is it true that your first attempt was to hand these materials to someone else, not Moroz?
There was no such attempt.
If the need arises to testify in Ukraine’s court, are you ready to do that?
Yes, I want to return to Ukraine and provide explanations, testify concerning what and how it was done. I have no desire to stay outside Ukraine – I am Ukrainian, and did everything for Ukraine’s and the people’s sake. Why should I hide myself? I want to come back.
Isn’t you return to Ukraine going to pose a threat to your life or health? What is you attitude toward this?
You understand, I have a family, a child, I am looking to tomorrow. My daughter will grow up and she will tell (about this). We cannot tell what Ukraine we are going to have if Kuchma and his circle are left. And believe me, after learning this, I stopped being frightened of what is going to happen to me. An end must be put to this. Therefore, I am taking this step consciously.
Do you have other materials in addition to those you handed to Moroz, which you would be able to pass on for further making public in Ukraine as proof of your beliefs and words?
Yes, I have materials, which I would like to pass on, and which I handed to you. They prove my words, which cannot be refuted. They completely prove everything I said.
What is it going to be, in what form will it (that proof) be?
The information will be on digital medium. I will pass on the materials of the president’s conversations proving his criminal activity.
How do you estimate your actions, taking into account the oath you made as a military (servant)?
I swore allegiance to Ukraine and Ukraine’s people. And I did not violate my oath. I did not swear (allegiance) to Kuchma to fulfill his criminal orders. My conscience is clear in this aspect.
Original transcript at http://www.pravda.com.ua/?01211-8-1
