(AP) – Ukrainian police now suspect that the 1999 death of opposition politician Vyacheslav Chornovil in a car crash was a political killing, his son said Sept. 19.
“Investigators told me that my father was killed, all other versions have been discounted,” Taras Chornovil told the Associated Press.
His father died instantly on March 25, 1999, when the car he was riding in slammed into the side of a truck.
Authorities declared it an accident but doubts grew when the government refused to investigate any other possibility and quickly granted amnesty to the truck driver, dashing hopes for an open trial. A video-recorded confession of alleged police involvement surfaced, but then was mysteriously misplaced.
After new President Viktor Yushchenko came into office, the investigation was reopened after numerous requests from Taras Chornovil, a lawmaker, and former party colleagues.
Last week, Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying that the investigation was ongoing, but Chornovil’s death would likely be declared a political murder.
Volodymyr Mulko, spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said that the investigation is under way but refused to provide any other details.
Former President Leonid Kuchma’s government had long dismissed allegations that Chornovil’s death was a political killing aimed at removing a potential presidential contender on the eve of the 1999 presidential campaign.
Yushchenko has said he will reinvestigate all mysterious deaths that occurred during Kuchma’s decade-long rule. The highest profile investigation that has been reopened is the 2000 killing of crusading journalist Heorhiy Gongadze, who wrote about high-level corruption under Kuchma.
Three policeman have been charged in connection with Gongadze’s killing and are awaiting trial. An international search arrant has been issued for a fourth. But Gongadze’s widow has complained that little progress has been made to find the masterminds of her husband’s death.
