(AP) – Ukraine said Nov. 10 it will not challenge a European Court of Human Rights ruling that it must pay 100,000 euros ($120,000) to the widow of slain journalist Georgy Gongadze.
The court said on Nov. 8 that Ukrainian authorities failed to protect Gongadze and mishandled the politically charged investigation into his kidnapping and killing in September 2000. The headless body of the Internet journalist, who wrote about high-level corruption, was later found in a forest outside Kyiv.
The court awarded the money to Gongadze’s widow, Myroslava.
“A person managed to achieve the truth … and restore their rights,” said Justice Minister Serhiy Holovatiy, who had served as lawyer for Gongadze’s mother before being named to his current position last month. “The state and the Justice Ministry must be on that person’s side.”
After President Viktor Yushchenko’s inauguration in January, prosecutors indicted three former policemen for Gongadze’s death; a fourth suspect is at large and being sought on an international warrant.
Gongadze’s family, however, has repeatedly complained that the government is no closer to finding who ordered the killing.
The slaying sparked massive protests against former President Leonid Kuchma, and secret recordings have emerged in which voices resembling Kuchma’s and now-parliament Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn other officials are heard allegedly complaining about Gongadze. Kuchma and Lytvyn have denied any involvement.
