Widow of slain journalist Georgiy Gongadze says Kuchma and his former inner circle, including current Verkhovna Rada Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn, have “reason to be afraid.”
The arrest of Oleksiy Pukach, who may know who ordered the 2000 murder of muckraking journalist Georgiy Gongadze, could make a lot of influential people nervous.
Myroslava Gongadze, widow of the slain journalist, said that Leonid Kuchma should be one of them, as well as former members of the ex-president’s inner circle, including Verkhovna Rada Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn.
“Kuchma has reason to be afraid. The head of his administration, Lytvyn, has reason to be afraid. Many ranks within the Interior Ministry have to be afraid. Because this was a serious, great campaign,” said Myroslava Gongadze, who received political asylum in the United States and currently works a TV journalist with Voice of America in Washington, D.C. “Georgiy’s murder was just one of the crimes committed by President Kuchma’s regime. And if Pukach really tells everything he knows, I think we can expect great revelations.”
According to investigators who have questioned him, Pukach is doing exactly that: Telling what he knows. At a July 22 press conference, Vasyl Hrytsak, deputy head of the State Security Service (SBU), said that Pukach named high-ranking individuals who ordered Gongadze’s murder.
Kuchma, Lytvyn and other former high-level officials were implicated in secretively recorded audiotapes by former presidential bodyguard Mykola Melnychenko. On them, Kuchma, Lytvyn and late Interior Minister Yuriy Kravchenko discussed silencing Gongadze. The authenticity of the tapes remains in dispute. All three, including Kravchenko – who died of two gunshot wounds to the head in 2005 – have denied any involvement.
The journalist, who exposed corruption on the Ukrainska Pravda website he founded, reportedly irritated Kuchma and those around him with his coverage.
The widow’s lawyer, Valentyna Telychenko, however, is not certain that Pukach’s arrest will solve the case. “Pukach will clearly try to minimize his own role,” Telychenko said. “I have big doubts he is ready to cooperate with the investigation. I have big doubts about how procedures are being kept in his arrest. I was very disturbed that he was questioned without his lawyer, which is a requirement. I saw his lawyer made the right announcement to defend his client, saying you arrested him without his lawyer. I would not be surprised if, during the investigation, the court would rule out testimony he gave immediately after the arrest,” she added.
Investigative journalist Oleg Yeltsov, a colleague of Georgiy Gongadze who has followed the case closely for years, also has doubts the crime will be solved.
“I am sure Pukach will point fingers at the dead,” he said, referring to former law enforcement chiefs Eduard Fere and Yuriy Dagayev, who allegedly passed on orders to Pukach to kill Gongadze. Both died in recent years, reportedly of natural causes.
“Of course, [Pukach] didn’t know everything,” Yeltsov said. “But certain details like where [Gongadze’s] head is should bring more clarity to the case.”
Myroslava Gongadze is certain that the order to kill her husband didn’t come from Pukach, but also has doubts about whether the political will exists to solve the cas.e
“To name those who ordered the murder is one thing, but to gather evidence and charge them is another matter,” she said. “Pukach is only a link in the chain of murderers. The question is open about who ordered it and if there would be enough political will to bring charges against them.”
Myroslava Gongadze said she had almost given up hope that Pukach would be arrested.
“Whether it’s connected to a political campaign, I am not sure,” she said, acknowledging the coincidence of Pukach’s arrest with the start of the 2010 presidential campaign.
“But in the course of eight years, Georgiy’s murder became a political case. A lot of political forces and leaders fight for it, whether they are interested in its outcome or not,” she said. “That’s why the timing is not that important to me. What’s important is that the case is still open and that there will be more revelations.”
Pukach’s lawyer, Serhiy Osyka, said that the general surrendered.
“No one was really looking for him and he was not hiding. You know, he just decided to put an end to this dirty case. So many crimes were pinned on him that he consciously gave himself up to be able to testify.”
Osyka will demand a trial for his client, who investigators blame for strangling Gongadze.
President Victor Yushchenko’s office praised law enforcement officials. Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko expressed hope that “not minions, but real perpetrators that continue leading a lavish life will be caught.”
Ex-president Kuchma, however, has not commented. According to local media reports, he is on holiday.
