KYIV, Dec. 14 (AP) – The testimony of a former presidential bodyguard again roiled the Ukrainian parliament when he accused President Leonid Kuchma of plotting an attack on an opposition leader.
Maj. Mykola Melnychenko, who served in the presidential guard and is now in hiding abroad, said Kuchma ordered the Oct. 2, 1999 grenade attack on then presidential candidate Natalia Vitrenko in last fall’s presidential campaign.
Melnychenko’s allegations were filmed by lawmakers investigating the case and shown during parliamentary session. On Tuesday, his videotaped testimony caused a stir when he said Kuchma gave orders to silence Georhiy Gongadze, a crusading journalist who later disappeared.
Kuchma has called Melnychenko’s allegations groundless insinuations.
Vitrenko, two fellow lawmakers from her Progressive Socialist Party and nearly 30 others were injured in the attack. A suspect, Serhy Ivanchenko, was detained by Russian security agents in Moscow last December and sent back to Ukraine. He was described as a campaign organizer for a rival candidate, socialist Oleksandr Moroz.
Moroz has denied involvement.
Both Vitrenko and Moroz were knocked out of the race in the first round in October.
“I learnt that Kuchma ordered the head of the SBU security service Leonid Derkach to direct Ivanchenko’s testimony against Oleksandr Moroz,” said Melnychenko. He said the order was made in the presence of Prosecutor General Mykhailo Potebenko, Interior Minister Yuri Kravchenko, and Tax Administration head Mykola Azarov.
The packed parliament hall was silent during the two and a half minutes of the filmed testimony and plunged into energetic discussions afterward.
Potebenko, Kravchenko, and Derkach took the podium to deny the allegations.
