Georgiy Ruslanovych Gongadze
ka, გიორგი რუსლანის ძე ღონღაძე, Giorgi Ruslanis dze Ghonghadze (21 May 1969 – 17 September 2000) was a
Georgian
Georgian may refer to:
Common meanings
* Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country)
** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group
** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians
**Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
-
Ukrainian
Ukrainian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Ukraine
* Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe
* Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine
* So ...
journalist and film director who was kidnapped and murdered in 2000 near Kyiv. He founded the online newspaper ''
Ukrainska Pravda
''Ukrainska Pravda'' ( uk, Українська правда, lit=Ukrainian Truth) is a Ukrainian online newspaper founded by Georgiy Gongadze on 16 April 2000 (the day of the Ukrainian constitutional referendum). Published mainly in Ukraini ...
'' along with
Olena Prytula
Olena Yuriivna Prytula ( uk, Олена Юріївна Притула; russian: Алёна Юрьевна Притула; born March 10, 1967) is a Ukrainian journalist, the former editor-in-chief, owner (and earlier co-founder) of the ''Ukrayi ...
in 2000.
The circumstances of his death became a national scandal and a focus for protests against then-
President of Ukraine
The president of Ukraine ( uk, Президент України, Prezydent Ukrainy) is the head of state of Ukraine. The president represents the nation in international relations, administers the foreign political activity of the state, condu ...
Leonid Kuchma
Leonid Danylovych Kuchma ( uk, Леоні́д Дани́лович Ку́чма; born 9 August 1938) is a Ukrainian politician who was the second president of Ukraine from 19 July 1994 to 23 January 2005. Kuchma's presidency saw numerous corru ...
. During the
Cassette Scandal
The Cassette Scandal ( uk, Касетний скандал, Russian: Кассетный скандал, also known as Tapegate or Kuchmagate) was a Ukrainian political scandal in November 2000 in which Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma was caugh ...
, audiotapes were released on which Kuchma,
Volodymyr Lytvyn
Volodymyr Mykhailovych Lytvyn ( uk, Володи́мир Миха́йлович Литви́н, ; born April 28, 1956) is a Ukrainian politician best known for being Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian parliament. Having previously se ...
and other top-level administration officials are heard discussing the need to silence Gongadze for his online news reports about high-level corruption. Former
Interior Minister Yuriy Kravchenko
Yuriy Fedorovych Kravchenko ( uk, Юрій Федорович Кравченко; March 5, 1951 – March 4, 2005) was a Ukrainian General of Internal Service and statesman, serving as the country's Minister of Internal Affairs (1995—2001). I ...
died of two gunshot wounds to the head on 4 March 2005, just hours before he was to begin providing testimony as a witness in the case. Kravchenko was the superior of the four policemen who were charged with Gongadze's murder soon after Kravchenko's death.
[Key suspect in Gongadze murder arrested; Pukach allegedly strangled journalist, but who gave the order? (UPDATED)]
Kyiv Post
The ''Kyiv Post'' is the oldest English-language newspaper in Ukraine, founded in October 1995 by Jed Sunden.
History
American Jed Sunden founded the ''Kyiv Post'' weekly newspaper on Oct. 18, 1995 and later created KP Media for his holdings. ...
, (22 July 2009) The official ruling of suicide was doubted by media reports.
[
Three former officials of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry's foreign surveillance department and criminal intelligence unit][ (Valeriy Kostenko, Mykola Protasov and Oleksandr Popovych) accused of his murder were arrested in March 2005 and a fourth one (Oleksiy Pukach, the former chief of the unit][) in July 2009.][ A court in Ukraine sentenced Protasov to a sentence of 13 years and Kostenko and Popovych to 12-year terms March 2008 (the trial had begun January 2006][) for the murder. Gongadze's family believe the trial had failed to bring the masterminds behind the killing to justice.][ No one has yet been charged with giving the order for Gongadze's murder.][Key Ukraine murder trial begins]
BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
(9 January 2006)
Early life and career
Born in Tbilisi
Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million p ...
, at the time the capital of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic
The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (Georgian SSR; ka, საქართველოს საბჭოთა სოციალისტური რესპუბლიკა, tr; russian: Грузинская Советская Соц ...
of the Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
, Gongadze was the son of Ruslan Gongadze, a Georgian architect, and Olesya Korchak, a Ukrainian dentist and a native of Lviv
Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukrain ...
. His parents met in Lviv, where they studied in university and eventually married. In 1967, the Gongadze family moved to Tbilisi. Georgiy was born as a twin, but his brother was kidnapped from the hospital soon after their birth. When Gongadze was six years old, his parents divorced. His father later remarried and had another son with his second wife. His mother did not remarry, and continued to live and work in Tbilisi until 1994.[From a warrior to a journalist (Від бійця до журналіста)](_blank)
Ukrainska Pravda
''Ukrainska Pravda'' ( uk, Українська правда, lit=Ukrainian Truth) is a Ukrainian online newspaper founded by Georgiy Gongadze on 16 April 2000 (the day of the Ukrainian constitutional referendum). Published mainly in Ukraini ...
. 16 September 2003
During his school years, Gongadze was an outstanding athlete, and was part of the Soviet reserve Olympic team for the 100
100 or one hundred ( Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101.
In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to de ...
and 200 metres
The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...
. In addition to his native Ukrainian
Ukrainian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Ukraine
* Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe
* Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine
* So ...
, he learned to speak Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
, Georgian
Georgian may refer to:
Common meanings
* Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country)
** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group
** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians
**Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
, and English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
. In 1986 he enrolled in the Foreign Languages Institute in Tbilisi with a specialization in English, but in 1987 he was drafted into the Soviet Border Troops, serving in Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...
on the border with Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
. His mother said that she had to pay to avoid him being sent to Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
to fight in the Soviet–Afghan War
The Soviet–Afghan War was a protracted armed conflict fought in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. It saw extensive fighting between the Soviet Union and the Afghan mujahideen (alongside smaller groups of anti-Sovie ...
.[
]
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
Around that time, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev started his reforms of perestroika and glasnost. The reforms sped up the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Trying to preserve the Soviet state, several armed and civil conflicts arose in the Soviet Union, among them the April 9 tragedy
The April 9 tragedy (also known as Tbilisi massacre or Tbilisi tragedy) refers to the events in Tbilisi, Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, on April 9, 1989, when an anti-Soviet, pro-independence demonstration was brutally crushed by the Sov ...
in which Soviet troops killed 21 unarmed civilians. This radicalized many Georgians, including Gongadze.
In May 1989, Gongadze was discharged from the Border Troops. He and his father both joined the national movement "For Free Georgia"; Georgiy became its spokesperson, while Ruslan became the leader. In 1989 and 1990, Georgiy travelled to the Baltic states and Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
in an attempt to drum up foreign support for Georgia's independence from the Soviet Union. As part of his tour, in September 1989 he attended the first congress of the People's Movement of Ukraine
The People's Movement of Ukraine ( uk, Народний Рух України, Narodnyi Rukh Ukrayiny) is a Ukrainian political party and first opposition party in Soviet Ukraine. Often it is simply referred to as the Movement ( uk, Рух, R ...
in Kyiv
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe.
Kyi ...
, where he represented For Free Georgia.
Gongadze also attended Chervona Ruta, the first non-communist music and youth festival, held in September 1989 in Chernivtsi. At the festival, he met Mariana Stetsko, whom he married in 1990, and settled in Lviv, where he found a job as a teacher of English and physical education. While working, Gongadze also studied at the Romano-Germanic Languages Faculty of the University of Lviv
The University of Lviv ( uk, Львівський університет, Lvivskyi universytet; pl, Uniwersytet Lwowski; german: Universität Lemberg, briefly known as the ''Theresianum'' in the early 19th century), presently the Ivan Franko Na ...
. On 24 August 1991, following the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine ( uk, Верхо́вна Ра́да Украї́ни, translit=, Verkhovna Rada Ukrainy, translation=Supreme Council of Ukraine, Ukrainian abbreviation ''ВРУ''), often simply Verkhovna Rada or just Rada, is the ...
announced that all residents of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic were considered to be citizens of Ukraine.
Fighting in Georgia (1991-1992)
In 1991, the first President of Georgia Zviad Gamsakhurdia
Zviad Konstantines dze Gamsakhurdia ( ka, ზვიად გამსახურდია, tr; russian: Звиа́д Константи́нович Гамсаху́рдия, Zviad Konstantinovich Gamsakhurdiya; 31 March 1939 – 31 December 1 ...
declared several of his former allies as "enemies of the people", among them Ruslan Gongadze. Ruslan was forced to hide in the basement of a building next to the parliament in Tbilisi. In December 1991, a civil war ensued when government forces opened fire upon anti-Gamsakhurdia protestors in Tbilisi, while a militia armed by the oppositional parties counter-attacked. At the end of 1991 during the ongoing war, Georgiy Gongadze returned to his mother in Tbilisi. He led a team of medical emergency services transferring wounded to a hospital until snipers opened fire on them. On 14 January 1992, Gamsakhurdia fled Tbilisi and the conflict ended. The opposition took power, and Eduard Shevardnadze
Eduard Ambrosis dze Shevardnadze ( ka, ედუარდ ამბროსის ძე შევარდნაძე}, romanized: ; 25 January 1928 – 7 July 2014) was a Soviet and Georgian politician and diplomat who governed Georgia fo ...
, the former Soviet foreign minister and communist leader of Soviet Georgia, was elected president. On 15 January 1992, Gongadze returned to Lviv, only to discover that his wife had left him.
Life in Ukraine (1992-1993)
In 1992, Gongadze founded a Georgian Culture Association in Lviv, named after the Bagrationi dynasty
The Bagrationi dynasty (; ) is a royal dynasty which reigned in Georgia from the Middle Ages until the early 19th century, being among the oldest extant Christian ruling dynasties in the world. In modern usage, the name of the dynasty is som ...
, which served as an informational centre. During the registration of the organization in government offices, Gongadze met Myroslava Petryshyn, his future second wife. The two of them wrote an article titled "Tragedy of Leaders" ( uk, Трагедія лідерів) about the Georgian Civil War, which was published in the Lviv newspaper ''Post-Postup'' in 1992. Later in 1992, Gongadze returned to Tbilisi again to visit his mother, who continued to work in a hospital as a nurse. At the time, he planned to leave political activism and start a business. However, after speaking with several people, he changed his mind, while his mother encouraged him to write about the victims of the Georgian Civil War. Gongadze received a camera from his mother, and filmed a documentary about the Georgian Civil War, entitled ''The Pain of My Land'' ( uk, Біль моєї землі). In February 1993, the film was shown on the Ukrainian channel UT-3.
In 1992, Abkhazia and South Ossetia
South Ossetia, ka, სამხრეთი ოსეთი, ( , ), officially the Republic of South Ossetia – the State of Alania, is a partially recognised landlocked state in the South Caucasus. It has an officially stated populat ...
proclaimed their independence from Georgia, and Georgia accused Russia of instigating conflicts in those regions. Soon new conflicts started. Gongadze volunteered to fight in Abkhazia, but was refused admission to military service by government authorities for being the son of Ruslan Gongadze and his role in promoting Georgian causes in Ukraine.
Gongadze returned to Lviv to perform his "diplomatic mission" in active support of Georgia in inter-ethnic conflicts. However, he was only able to find a marginal group of supporters willing to fight in Georgia, from the far-right . Gongadze repeatedly visited UNA-UNSO gatherings in an attempt to find Ukrainians willing to fight. The UNA-UNSO, with its self-stated goal of "exiling communists and criminals from Ukraine and overpowering Russian expansionism," coincided with those of Georgian nationalists fighting Russian-backed separatists in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. In July 1993, the UNA-UNSO battalion "Argo", led by Dmytro Korchynsky
Dmytro Oleksandrovych Korchynsky ( uk, Дмитро Олександрович Корчинський; born 22 January 1964) is a Ukrainian writer, poet, militant, and political activist who is the former leader of the far-right Ukrainian Natio ...
arrived to Tbilisi and was ready for fight in Abkhazia.
Return to Georgia (1993)
Gongadze, however, did not return to Georgia with the UNA-UNSO, but remained in Ukraine, where his father was undergoing cancer treatment in Kyiv
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe.
Kyi ...
. He did not survive treatment, and died on 5 August 1993, at the age of 49. Following his father's death, Gongadze returned to Tbilisi to bury him. Afterwards, he began filming a new documentary, this one about Ukrainian fighters in Abkhazia. He obtained funds for the documentary by selling his military-issued AK-47
The AK-47, officially known as the ''Avtomat Kalashnikova'' (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is a gas-operated assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian small-arms d ...
.
By the time filming began, Russian-backed Abkhazian separatists had taken much of the lands they sought to control, and had encircled the region's administrative centre, Sukhumi
Sukhumi (russian: Суху́м(и), ) or Sokhumi ( ka, სოხუმი, ), also known by its Abkhaz name Aqwa ( ab, Аҟәа, ''Aqwa''), is a city in a wide bay on the Black Sea's eastern coast. It is both the capital and largest city of ...
. In September 1993, in exchange for a ceasefire, the government of Georgia agreed to pull its troops and heavy armament from Sukhumi. However, Abkhazian forces soon broke the ceasefire and launched an assault on the city, which was protected only by an army of irregular detachments. President of Georgia Eduard Shevardnadze
Eduard Ambrosis dze Shevardnadze ( ka, ედუარდ ამბროსის ძე შევარდნაძე}, romanized: ; 25 January 1928 – 7 July 2014) was a Soviet and Georgian politician and diplomat who governed Georgia fo ...
, who also was present during the siege, appealed to the President of Russia
The president of the Russian Federation ( rus, Президент Российской Федерации, Prezident Rossiyskoy Federatsii) is the head of state of the Russian Federation. The president leads the executive branch of the federal ...
Boris Yeltsin
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin ( rus, Борис Николаевич Ельцин, p=bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈjelʲtsɨn, a=Ru-Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin.ogg; 1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician wh ...
to stop the attack, but Yeltsin chose to ignore it.
On 17 September 1993, Gongadze left Tbilisi for Sukhumi
Sukhumi (russian: Суху́м(и), ) or Sokhumi ( ka, სოხუმი, ), also known by its Abkhaz name Aqwa ( ab, Аҟәа, ''Aqwa''), is a city in a wide bay on the Black Sea's eastern coast. It is both the capital and largest city of ...
to film the events. Upon arrival, he was mobilised for service in the Defense Forces of Georgia
The Defence Forces of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს თავდაცვის ძალები, tr), or Georgian Defence Forces (GDF), are the combined military forces of Georgia, tasked with the defense of the nation's indep ...
, and the following morning was at the frontlines along the Gumista River
The Gumista River ( ka, გუმისთა, Abkhaz: Гәымсҭа) is a river in Abkhazia, Georgia. It is formed by the joining of the Eastern and Western Gumista Rivers. It is nourished by snow, rain and underground water. The river flows in ...
, where Abkhazian troops were conducting an assault. Gongadze was fighting in a trench when an artillery shell exploded above him, and shrapnel hit him in 26 places, including his right hand. The only thing preventing Gongadze's death was his helmet, and two soldiers that had been next to him were killed in the explosion. The shrapnel remained in Gongadze's body until his murder, and was later used to identify him.
Gongadze was quickly taken to a field hospital, where he brought attention to himself by requesting that someone return to the field, so that his bag of video cassettes would not be lost. In the field hospital, Gongadze also met Konstantin Alania, a local resident fighting among Georgian troops. That night, Gongadze and several other seriously wounded fighters were sent to Tbilisi on a plane shortly before the city fell to Abkhazian troops. Alania was left behind to continue fighting, and later managed to escape with some other militants, withdrawing through mountain corridors. In 1995, Alania left Georgia for Lviv, and coincidentally met Gongadze again. The two remained close friends for the remainder of Gongadze's life.
In Tbilisi, Gongadze's treatment continued, and he was tended to by his mother, still working in the military hospital. However, the situation remained tense due to food insecurity
Food security speaks to the availability of food in a country (or geography) and the ability of individuals within that country (geography) to access, afford, and source adequate foodstuffs. According to the United Nations' Committee on World ...
throughout Georgia. His mother tried to send him away from Georgia, but did not have enough money, as the government had not had enough money to pay hospital staff since December 1991. Gongadze's mother managed to raise enough funds through friends and relatives and, after two weeks in Tbilisi, Gongadze returned to Lviv in October 1993, with his mother staying behind. In Ukraine, Gongadze finished production of his new documentary, and it was shown on Ukrainian television under the name ''Shadows of War''.
Life in Ukraine (1992-2000)
From 1996 to 1997, Gongadze worked for the Ukrainian television channel STB
State Security ( cs, Státní bezpečnost, sk, Štátna bezpečnosť) or StB / ŠtB, was the secret police force in communist Czechoslovakia from 1945 to its dissolution in 1990. Serving as an intelligence and counter-intelligence agency, it d ...
. He worked for the Kyiv-based radio station Kontynent, on which he had his own show called ''First Round with Georhiy Gongadze''. His strongly independent line soon attracted hostility from the increasingly authoritarian government of President Leonid Kuchma
Leonid Danylovych Kuchma ( uk, Леоні́д Дани́лович Ку́чма; born 9 August 1938) is a Ukrainian politician who was the second president of Ukraine from 19 July 1994 to 23 January 2005. Kuchma's presidency saw numerous corru ...
; during the October 1999 presidential election, his commentaries prompted a call from Kuchma's headquarters to say "that he had been blacklisted to be dealt with after the election". In 1999, he was a spokesman for Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine
The Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine (PSPU) is a banned Pro-Russian National Bolshevik political party in Ukraine led by Nataliya Vitrenko. The party was represented in Ukraine's national parliament between 1998 and 2002.
History
The p ...
leader Nataliya Vitrenko
Nataliya Mykhailivna Vitrenko ( uk, Натáлія Михáйлівна Вітрéнко; born December 28, 1951) is a pro-Russian Ukrainian politician and scientist.
Presidential candidacy
Born in Kyiv, she was a candidate in the 2004 Ukrain ...
. Visiting New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
in January 2000 with other Ukrainian journalists, he warned of "the strangulation of the freedom of speech and information in our state".
In April 2000, Gongadze co-founded a news website, ''Ukrainska Pravda
''Ukrainska Pravda'' ( uk, Українська правда, lit=Ukrainian Truth) is a Ukrainian online newspaper founded by Georgiy Gongadze on 16 April 2000 (the day of the Ukrainian constitutional referendum). Published mainly in Ukraini ...
'' (), as a means of sidestepping the government's increasing influence over the mainstream media. He observed that following the muzzling of a prominent pro-opposition newspaper after the election, "today there is practically no objective information available about Ukraine". The website specialized in political news and commentary, focusing particularly on President Kuchma, the country's wealthy "oligarchs" and the official media.
In June 2000, Gongadze wrote an open letter to Ukraine's chief prosecutor about harassment from the Security Service of Ukraine
The Security Service of Ukraine ( uk, Служба безпеки України, translit=Sluzhba bezpeky Ukrainy}) or SBU ( uk, СБУ, link=no) is the law enforcement authority and main intelligence and security agency of the Ukrainian ...
directed towards himself and his ''Ukrainska Pravda
''Ukrainska Pravda'' ( uk, Українська правда, lit=Ukrainian Truth) is a Ukrainian online newspaper founded by Georgiy Gongadze on 16 April 2000 (the day of the Ukrainian constitutional referendum). Published mainly in Ukraini ...
'' colleagues and apparently related to an investigation into a murder case in the southern port of Odessa. He complained that he had been forced into hiding because of harassment from the secret police, that he said he and his family were being followed, that his staff were being harassed, and that the SBU were spreading a rumour that he was wanted on a murder charge.
Murder and initial investigations
Gongadze disappeared on the night of 16 September 2000, after failing to return home. Foul play was suspected from the outset. The matter immediately attracted widespread public attention and media interest. Eighty journalists signed an open letter to Kuchma urging an investigation and complaining that "during the years of Ukrainian independence, not a single high-profile crime against journalists has been fully resolved". Kuchma responded by ordering an immediate inquiry. This inquiry however, was viewed with scepticism. Opposition politician Hryhoriy Omelchenko stated that the disappearance had coincided with Gongadze receiving documents on corruption within the president's own entourage. The Verkhovna Rada
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine ( uk, Верхо́вна Ра́да Украї́ни, translit=, Verkhovna Rada Ukrainy, translation=Supreme Council of Ukraine, Ukrainian abbreviation ''ВРУ''), often simply Verkhovna Rada or just Rada, is the ...
set up a parallel inquiry run by a special commission. Neither investigation produced any results.
Two months later, on 3 November 2000, a body was found in a forest in the Tarashcha Raion
Tarashcha Raion ( uk, Таращанський район) was a raion (district) in Kyiv Oblast of Ukraine. Its administrative center was the city of Tarashcha. The raion was abolished on 18 July 2020 as part of the administrative reform of Ukrai ...
of Kyiv Oblast
Kyiv Oblast ( uk, Ки́ївська о́бласть, translit=Kyïvska oblast), also called Kyivshchyna ( uk, Ки́ївщина), is an oblast (province) in central and northern Ukraine. It surrounds, but does not include, the city of Kyiv, w ...
, some outside Kyiv, near the city of Tarashcha
Tarashcha or Tarascha ( uk, Тараща, yi, טאַראַשטשע) is a city in Bila Tserkva Raion, Kyiv Oblast (region) in central Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Tarashcha urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Population: .
...
. The corpse had been decapitated and doused in acid, apparently to make identification more difficult; forensic investigations found that the acid bath and decapitation had occurred while the victim was still alive. The Russian-edited, Russian-language Ukrainian newspaper ''Segodnya
''Segodnya'' ( rus, Сегодня, p=sʲɪˈvodʲnʲə, t=Today, a=Ru-сегодня.ogg) was a Russian-language Ukrainian tabloid newspaper founded in 1997. While run from Kyiv, it was linked to Donbass political and business groups; its hold ...
'' ("Today") reported that Gongadze had been abducted by policemen and accidentally shot in the head while seated in a vehicle, necessitating his decapitation (to avoid the bullet being recovered and matched to a police weapon). His body had been doused in petrol which had failed to burn properly, and had then been dumped. A group of journalists first identified it as being that of Gongadze, a finding confirmed a few weeks later by his wife Myroslava. In a bizarre twist, the corpse was then confiscated by the militsiya and resurfaced in a morgue in Kyiv. The authorities did not officially acknowledge that the body was that of Gongadze until the following February and did not definitively confirm it until as late as March 2003. The body was eventually identified and was to be returned to Gongadze's family to be buried two years after his disappearance. However, the funeral never took place. As of 23 June 2006 Gongadze's mother refused to accept the remains offered as it was not the body of her son. While visiting Kyiv in July 2006, Gongadze's widow Myroslava emphasized that the funeral had now become a solemn family issue and the date of the funeral would soon be appointed.
On 28 November 2000, opposition politician Oleksandr Moroz
Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Morozrussian: Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Моро́з, translit=Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Moroz (born 29 February 1944) is a Ukrainian politician. He was the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada twice, ...
publicised secret tape recordings which he claimed implicated Kuchma in Gongadze's murder. The recordings were said to be of discussions between Kuchma, presidential chief of staff Volodymyr Lytvyn
Volodymyr Mykhailovych Lytvyn ( uk, Володи́мир Миха́йлович Литви́н, ; born April 28, 1956) is a Ukrainian politician best known for being Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian parliament. Having previously se ...
, and Interior Minister Yuriy Kravchenko
Yuriy Fedorovych Kravchenko ( uk, Юрій Федорович Кравченко; March 5, 1951 – March 4, 2005) was a Ukrainian General of Internal Service and statesman, serving as the country's Minister of Internal Affairs (1995—2001). I ...
, and were claimed to have been provided by an unnamed SBU officer (later named as Major Mykola Mel'nychenko
(Major) Mykola Melnychenko ( uk, Микола Іванович Мельниченко, born 18 October 1966 in Vasylkiv, Ukrainian SSR) was a bodyguard of Leonid Kuchma (President of Ukraine), an officer of the State Security Administration.
Betw ...
, Kuchma's bodyguard). The conversations included comments expressing annoyance at Gongadze's writings as well as discussions of ways to shut him up, such as deporting him and arranging from him to be kidnapped and taken to Chechnya. Killing him was, however, not mentioned and doubt was cast on the tapes' authenticity, as the quality of the recordings was poor. Moroz told the Verkhovna Rada that "the professionally organised disappearance, a slow-moving investigation, disregard for the most essential elements of investigation and incoherent comments by police officials suggest that the case was put together."
In September 2001, the American detective agency Kroll Inc.
Kroll is an American corporate investigation and risk consulting firm established in 1972 and based in New York City. In 2018, Kroll was acquired by Duff & Phelps. In 2021, Duff & Phelps decided to rebrand itself as Kroll, a process it comple ...
, contracted by the pro-Kuchma political party Labour Ukraine, carried out a six-month investigation and concluded that Kuchma had nothing to do with the murder of Gongadze.
The affair became a major political scandal (referred to in Ukraine as the "Cassette Scandal
The Cassette Scandal ( uk, Касетний скандал, Russian: Кассетный скандал, also known as Tapegate or Kuchmagate) was a Ukrainian political scandal in November 2000 in which Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma was caugh ...
" or "Tapegate"). Kuchma strongly denied Moroz's accusations and threatened a libel suit, blaming the tapes on foreign agents. He later acknowledged that his voice was indeed one of those on the tapes, but claimed that they had been selectively edited to distort his meaning.
In November 2005, upon complaint of Gongadze's widow, the European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that ...
found Ukraine to violate right to life, right to effective remedy and prohibition of degrading treatment.
Crisis and controversy
The affair became an international crisis for the Ukrainian government during 2001, with the European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
expressing dissatisfaction at the official investigation, rumours of Ukrainian suspension from the Council of Europe, and censure from the OSCE
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the world's largest regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization with observer status at the United Nations. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, prom ...
, which described Gongadze's death as a case of "censorship by killing" and castigated the "extremely unprofessional" investigation. Mass demonstrations erupted in Kyiv in February 2001, calling for the resignation of Kuchma and the dismissal of other key officials. He did sack the head of the SBU, Leonid Derkach
Leonid Vasylovych Derkach ( uk, Леонід Васильович Деркач; 19 July 1939 – 14 January 2022) was a Soviet and Ukrainian politician, intelligence officer, and general who was Head of the Security Service of Ukraine from 22 Apr ...
, and the chief of the presidential bodyguard, Volodymyr Shepel, but refused to step down. The government invited the FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...
to investigate, though it does not appear that this offer was ever taken up. The protests were eventually forcibly broken up by the police.
In May 2001, Interior Minister Yuriy Smirnov announced that the murder had been solved—it was attributed to a random act of violence committed by two "hooligans" with links to a gangster called "Cyclops". Both of the killers were said to now be dead. The claim was dismissed by the opposition and by the government's own Prosecutor-General, whose office issued a statement denying Smirnov's claims.
Mass protests again broke out in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities in September 2002 to mark the second anniversary of Gongadze's death. The demonstrators again called for Kuchma's resignation but the protests again failed to achieve their goal, with police breaking up the protesters' camp.
The prosecutor of Tarascha Raion, where Gongadze's body was found, was convicted in May 2003 for abuse of office and falsification of evidence. Serhiy Obozov was found guilty of forging documents and negligence in the investigation and was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison. However, he was immediately released due to a provision of Ukraine's amnesty laws.
In June 2004, the government claimed that a convicted gangster identified only as "K" had confessed to Gongadze's murder, although there was no independent confirmation of the claim. The ongoing investigation received a setback when a key witness died of spinal injuries apparently sustained while in police custody.
Gongadze's death became a major issue in the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election
Presidential elections were held in Ukraine on 31 October, 21 November and 26 December 2004. The election was the fourth presidential election to take place in Ukraine following independence from the Soviet Union. The last stages of the election ...
, in which the opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko ( uk, Віктор Андрійович Ющенко, ; born 23 February 1954) is a Ukrainian politician who was the third president of Ukraine from 23 January 2005 to 25 February 2010.
As an informal leader of th ...
pledged to solve the case if he became president. Yushchenko did become president following the subsequent Orange Revolution
The Orange Revolution ( uk, Помаранчева революція, translit=Pomarancheva revoliutsiia) was a series of protests and political events that took place in Ukraine from late November 2004 to January 2005, in the immediate afterm ...
and immediately launched a new investigation, replacing the Prosecutor-General.
The Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly adopted on 27 January 2009 Resolution 1645 on the investigation of crimes allegedly committed by high officials during the Kuchma rule in Ukraine – the Gongadze case as an emblematic example. This Resolution calls on the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office to use all possible avenues of investigation to identify those who instigated and organised the murder of Giorgiy Gongadze.
Arrests and trials
Arrest and trial of three former policemen and death of Kravchenko
On 1 March 2005, President Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko ( uk, Віктор Андрійович Ющенко, ; born 23 February 1954) is a Ukrainian politician who was the third president of Ukraine from 23 January 2005 to 25 February 2010.
As an informal leader of th ...
announced that the journalist's suspected killers had been arrested. Prosecutor-General Svyatoslav Piskun announced the following day that the case had been solved, telling Ukrainian television that Gongadze had been strangled by employees of the Interior Ministry. Two of the alleged killers were said to be senior policemen working for the Interior Ministry's Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID). Former Interior Minister Yuriy Kravchenko
Yuriy Fedorovych Kravchenko ( uk, Юрій Федорович Кравченко; March 5, 1951 – March 4, 2005) was a Ukrainian General of Internal Service and statesman, serving as the country's Minister of Internal Affairs (1995—2001). I ...
, one of those recorded with Leonid Kuchma in the Cassette Scandal
The Cassette Scandal ( uk, Касетний скандал, Russian: Кассетный скандал, also known as Tapegate or Kuchmagate) was a Ukrainian political scandal in November 2000 in which Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma was caugh ...
, was also said to be under investigation. The two police colonels accused of the killing have been detained and a third senior policeman, identified as CID commander Oleksiy Pukach, was being sought on an international arrest warrant.
On 4 March, Kravchenko was found dead in a dacha in the elite residential area of Koncha-Zaspa, outside Kyiv. He had died from apparently self-inflicted gunshot wounds, though some speculated that he might have been assassinated to prevent him from testifying as a witness. Hryhory Omelchenko, who chaired the parliamentary committee that investigated the Gongadze case, told the ''New York Times'' that Kravchenko had ordered Pukach to abduct Gongadze on President Kuchma's orders. Kuchma himself has denied this allegation but has since been interviewed by investigators. Kravchenko left an alleged suicide note: "My dear ones, I am not guilty of anything. Forgive me, for I became a victim of the political intrigues of President Kuchma and his entourage. I am leaving you with a clear conscious, farewell."
In April or May 2005, Piskun released more details of the ongoing investigation. He told the press that after Gongadze was murdered, a second group disinterred him and re-buried him where he was eventually found, in the constituency of Socialist Party leader Oleksandr Moroz. According to Piskun, the aim was to undermine the government (led by Viktor Yushchenko when he was still Prime Minister). The second group was part of or allied with the United Social Democratic Party of Ukraine
The Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united) ( uk, Соцiал-демократична партія України (об'єднана); СДПУ(о)), is a Ukraine, Ukrainian political parties in Ukraine, political party that was originally ...
(SDPUo), a pro-oligarch party which had been hit hard by Yushchenko's crackdown on corruption and therefore wanted to see his government toppled. According to the journal ''Ukraina Moloda'' (14 April 2005), the SDPUo moved Gongadze's body in order to discredit President Leonid Kuchma and force early elections, which could have led to party leader Viktor Medvedchuk
Viktor Volodymyrovych Medvedchuk ( uk, Віктор Володимирович Медведчук, ; born 7 August 1954) is a Ukrainian lawyer, business oligarch, and politician who is since September 2022 living in exile after being handed over ...
succeeding Kuchma.
The trial against three former policemen charged with the killing of Gongadze began on 9 January 2006. The other main suspect, ex-police officer, Oleksiy Pukach was believed to have fled abroad and therefore charged but not on trial. No-one had been charged for ordering the murder. On the day the trial started Gongadze's widow, Myroslava Gongadze
Myroslava Gongadze ( uk, Миросла́ва Володи́мирівна Ґонґа́дзе, born 19 June 1972) is a Ukrainian journalist currently living in the United States. Her husband, journalist Georgiy Gongadze, was abducted and murdered ...
commented on the fact that government officials had yet to be punished for organising Gongadze's murder, saying, "They are known and they should be punished, just the same as those who will be sitting in the dock today".
In mid-March 2008, the three former police officers were sentenced to prison for the murder of Gongadze. Mykola Protasov was given a sentence of 13 years, while Valeriy Kostenko and Oleksandr Popovych were each handed 12-year terms. But so far the investigations have failed to show who ordered the murder.
Arrest and trial of Oleksiy Pukach
On 22 July 2009, Oleksiy Pukach, one of the chief suspects, was arrested in Zhytomyr Oblast
Zhytomyr Oblast ( uk, Жито́мирська о́бласть, translit=Zhytomyrska oblast), also referred to as Zhytomyrshchyna ( uk, Жито́мирщина}) is an oblast (province) of northern Ukraine. The administrative center of the obla ...
. The former chief of the main criminal investigation department at the Ukrainian Interior Ministry's foreign surveillance unit[ had lived in the house of Lidia Zagorulko who had told her neighbours that Pukach was the brother of her dead husband and that he was a former sea captain. Pukach had lived there with his real second name and original documents. At first it was reported and that he had implicated senior political figures in the murder and was ready to show the place where the journalist's head was hidden, but this was denied two days after his arrest by his lawyer.][Pukach hasn't named key figures in Gongadze murder, says lawyer]
Interfax-Ukraine (24 July 2009) According to the lawyer, Pukach was not supposed to provide this information to the investigators.[ Prosecutor-General ]Oleksandr Medvedko
Oleksandr Medvedko ( uk, Олександр Іванович Медведько) is a former Prosecutor General of Ukraine Medvedko was installed in a political deal with the Party of Regions.
Biography
In December 2009, during the 2010 Ukrainian ...
refused to comment whether Pukach named those who ordered the murder or not, saying a "secret investigation" was underway.[Tymoshenko hopes those who ordered killing of Gongadze will be identified and punished]
Interfax-Ukraine (29 July 2009)
On 28 July 2009, Ukrainian media reported that the remains of Gongadze's skull were found near Bila Tserkva, in a location specified by Pukach. According to the Prosecutor General's Office they did find fragments of a skull there that may belong to Gongadze.[Ukraine finds 'reporter's skull']
BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
(28 July 2009)
A request by Myroslava Gongadze to replace deputy prosecutor general Mykola Holomsha and investigator Oleksandr Kharchenko because of their insufficient professionalism and because they were unable to withstand political pressure and speculation surrounding the case was rejected on 30 July 2009. Her request to replace Pukach's lawyer was also denied on 28 October 2009.
On 20 November 2009, Gongadze's mother Olesya gave consent to an examination of fragments of the skull found in late July 2009, under the condition she could take fragments of the skull for private DNA examination she planned to conduct at a private foreign laboratory after the 2010 Ukrainian presidential election. In September 2010, she stated that, in her opinion, the fragments of the skull found in July 2009 had nothing to do with her son.[
On 3 December 2009, Pukach's detention was extended by two months. On 6 December 2009, Mykola Melnychenko accused ]Volodymyr Lytvyn
Volodymyr Mykhailovych Lytvyn ( uk, Володи́мир Миха́йлович Литви́н, ; born April 28, 1956) is a Ukrainian politician best known for being Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian parliament. Having previously se ...
of ordering the murder of Gongadze in 2000, but offered no proof to back up the claim. A spokesperson for Lytvyn dismissed the claims as part of his presidential election campaign.
The Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine plans to complete its investigation into the case of Oleksiy Pukach by the end of the summer of 2010.[Medvedko: Prosecutor s planning to complete investigation into Gongadze case in July–August]
Kyiv Post
The ''Kyiv Post'' is the oldest English-language newspaper in Ukraine, founded in October 1995 by Jed Sunden.
History
American Jed Sunden founded the ''Kyiv Post'' weekly newspaper on Oct. 18, 1995 and later created KP Media for his holdings. ...
(29 June 2010)
Ukrainian Prosecutor General Oleksandr Medvedko
Oleksandr Medvedko ( uk, Олександр Іванович Медведько) is a former Prosecutor General of Ukraine Medvedko was installed in a political deal with the Party of Regions.
Biography
In December 2009, during the 2010 Ukrainian ...
stated on 17 June 2010 that skull fragments found near Bila Tserkva in July 2009 were those of Gongadze.[Mother of murdered journalist Gongadze calls for politicians not to hold PR campaigns on 'Gongadze case']
Kyiv Post
The ''Kyiv Post'' is the oldest English-language newspaper in Ukraine, founded in October 1995 by Jed Sunden.
History
American Jed Sunden founded the ''Kyiv Post'' weekly newspaper on Oct. 18, 1995 and later created KP Media for his holdings. ...
(22 June 2010)
On 14 September 2010, Ukraine's Office of the Prosecutor General issued a statement stating that prosecutors had concluded that former Interior Minister Yuriy Kravchenko had ordered Pukach to carry out the murder, and stating that Pukach had confessed to the murder. According to Gongadze's widow, Myroslava Gongadze, "Kravchenko had had no grounds for such actions"; she believed that several people ordered the killing of the journalist. According to Georgiy Gongadze's mother, Olesya, the statement was an attempt by the Prosecutor-General's office to excuse itself for its inactivity.[Lesya Gongadze: They want to blame my son's murder on a dead person]
Kyiv Post
The ''Kyiv Post'' is the oldest English-language newspaper in Ukraine, founded in October 1995 by Jed Sunden.
History
American Jed Sunden founded the ''Kyiv Post'' weekly newspaper on Oct. 18, 1995 and later created KP Media for his holdings. ...
(14 September 2010) On 16 September 2010, Lytvyn asserted that the investigation into the murder of Gongadze confirmed his innocence in this crime.
Pukach's trial, on allegations he strangled and beheaded Gongadze, began on 7 July 2011. It was closed to the public.[Gongadze murder suspect's trial should be open to public]
Committee to Protect Journalists
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is an American independent non-profit, non-governmental organization, based in New York City, New York, with correspondents around the world. CPJ promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journ ...
(16 August 2011)[ On 30 August 2011, Pukach claimed that Kuchma was the one who ordered the murder. During the trial he also alleged that Lytvyn ordered the murder of Gongadze.]
In December 2011, the Pechersk District Court refused to accept witness testimony of Mykola Melnychenko as he has not been authorized to gather evidences for a committing crime, while conducting recordings in a cabinet of the President of Ukraine.
On 29 January 2013, Pukach was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv. Oleksiy Pukach also was stripped of his rank "General of Militsiya".[Court sentences Pukach to life for murdering Gongadze, disregards claims against Kuchma, Lytvyn](_blank)
Kyiv Post
The ''Kyiv Post'' is the oldest English-language newspaper in Ukraine, founded in October 1995 by Jed Sunden.
History
American Jed Sunden founded the ''Kyiv Post'' weekly newspaper on Oct. 18, 1995 and later created KP Media for his holdings. ...
(29 January 2013)
Ukraine police officer accuses ex-president after being jailed for life
Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency was esta ...
(29 January 2013)
Gongadze killer pointed on Kuchma and Lytvyn
"LIGABusinessInform". 2013-1-29 The court ruled Pukach had murdered the journalist on orders from Kravchenko, who was seeking a career promotion.
On 9 July 2014, Myroslava Gongadze withdrew her appeal against the sentence of Pukach, as, according to her lawyer Valentyna Telychenko, "If the Court of Appeals will meet our appeal, it will be forced to simultaneously release Pukach from custody. We believe that Pukach is a killer and should serve his sentence". Telychenko blamed former First Deputy Prosecutor-General Renat Kuzmin for "speculating with the Gongadze case" that according to her led to "exhausting Pukach's length of stay in detention during the preliminary investigation".[Gongadze's wife withdraws appeal against sentence Pukach]
Ukrainska Pravda
''Ukrainska Pravda'' ( uk, Українська правда, lit=Ukrainian Truth) is a Ukrainian online newspaper founded by Georgiy Gongadze on 16 April 2000 (the day of the Ukrainian constitutional referendum). Published mainly in Ukraini ...
(9 July 2014)
Charges against Leonid Kuchma
The Prosecutor-General's Office cancelled its resolution to deny opening of criminal cases against former President Leonid Kuchma and other politicians within the Gongadze case on 9 October 2010.
On 24 March 2011 Ukrainian prosecutors charged Kuchma with involvement in the murder. The decision prompted mixed reaction among the public. Former Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
and the opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko
Yulia Volodymyrivna Tymoshenko ( uk, Юлія Володимирівна Тимошенко, ; Hrihyan ();[Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych ( uk, Віктор Федорович Янукович, ; ; born 9 July 1950) is a former politician who served as the fourth president of Ukraine from 2010 until he was removed from office in the Revolution of D ...]
's sagging popularity. Another theory was that Yanukovych was driven by the desire for revenge on Kuchma, who often humiliated Yanukovych and refused to use force to stop the Orange Revolution
The Orange Revolution ( uk, Помаранчева революція, translit=Pomarancheva revoliutsiia) was a series of protests and political events that took place in Ukraine from late November 2004 to January 2005, in the immediate afterm ...
in 2004. Political analysts suggested that Yanukovych's "display of justice" could also be aimed at winning credit from the West, which had criticised him for authoritarian measures.
A Ukrainian district court ordered prosecutors to drop criminal charges against Kuchma on 14 December 2011 on grounds that evidence linking him to the murder of Gongadze was insufficient. The court rejected Melnychenko's recordings as evidence.[Court rejects Melnychenko's tapes as evidence in Gongadze case]
Kyiv Post
The ''Kyiv Post'' is the oldest English-language newspaper in Ukraine, founded in October 1995 by Jed Sunden.
History
American Jed Sunden founded the ''Kyiv Post'' weekly newspaper on Oct. 18, 1995 and later created KP Media for his holdings. ...
(14 December 2011) Myroslava Gongadze appealed against this decision one week later.
First Deputy Prosecutor-General Renat Kuzmin claimed 20 February 2013 that his office had collected enough evidence confirming Kuchma's responsibility for ordering Gongadze's assassination.[Ukraine's Leonid Kuchma 'implicated' in Gongadze death]
BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
(20 February 2013)
Kuchma outraged by reports alleging his arrest
Kyiv Post
The ''Kyiv Post'' is the oldest English-language newspaper in Ukraine, founded in October 1995 by Jed Sunden.
History
American Jed Sunden founded the ''Kyiv Post'' weekly newspaper on Oct. 18, 1995 and later created KP Media for his holdings. ...
(21 February 2013) Kuchma's reply the next day was, "This is another banal example of a provocation, which I've heard more than enough in the past 12 years".[
]
2014 proposal to revisit
On 9 July 2014, Prosecutor-General Vitaliy Yarema stated that his office would revisit investigations into high-profile cases "that were dropped unlawfully", including the cases dealing with the murder of Gongadze.
Legacy
Gongadze was buried in the Mykola Naberezhny Church in Kyiv
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe.
Kyi ...
on 22 March 2016.[Body Of Ukrainian Reporter Gongadze Finally Buried]
Radio Free Europe
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says tha ...
(22 March 2014)
Gongadze's body to be buried in Kyiv on March 22
Interfax-Ukraine (21 March 2014) Gongadze had remained unburied until then, as Olesya Gongadze, the journalist's mother, refused to have the body interred until Gongadze's head had been found.[ In 2009, according to the Prosecutor-General's office, the remains of his skull had been found, but Olesya Gongadze refused to acknowledge that the found remains belonged to her son.][ Olesya Gongadze died on 30 November 2013.][Poroshenko awards Hero of Ukraine medal to widow of slain journalist Gongadze]
Interfax-Ukraine (21 March 2014)
Viktor Yushchenko posthumously awarded Gongadze the title Hero of Ukraine
Hero of Ukraine (HOU; uk, Герой України, ''Heroi Ukrainy'') is the highest national title that can be conferred upon an individual citizen by the President of Ukraine. The title was created in 1998 by President Leonid Kuchma and as ...
on 23 August 2005.[Presidential decree awarding title Hero of Ukraine]
Official Verkhovna Rada
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine ( uk, Верхо́вна Ра́да Украї́ни, translit=, Verkhovna Rada Ukrainy, translation=Supreme Council of Ukraine, Ukrainian abbreviation ''ВРУ''), often simply Verkhovna Rada or just Rada, is the ...
website Gongadze's widow Myroslava Gongadze was given the 'Star of the Hero' decoration by President Petro Poroshenko
Petro Oleksiyovych Poroshenko ( uk, Петро́ Олексі́йович Пороше́нко, ; born 26 September 1965) is a Ukrainian businessman and politician who served as the fifth president of Ukraine from 2014 to 2019. Poroshenko se ...
on 21 March 2014.[
In June 2005, Kyiv's Industrialnaya Street was renamed Georgiy Gongadze Street. Prospekt Radianska Ukrainii in Kyiv's Vynohradar neighborhood was renamed Prospekt Georgiy Gongadze in 2007.][Over the past seven years, Malevich, Petliura and Kirpa streets have appeared in Kyiv]
The Ukrainian Week
''The Ukrainian Week'' ( uk, Український Тиждень, translit=Ukrainskyi Tyzhden) is an illustrated weekly magazine covering politics, economics and the arts and aimed at the socially engaged Ukrainian-language reader. It provides ...
(8 June 2013) A monument to Gongadze and all journalists killed for their professional activities was opened in Kyiv park at Chervonoarmiyska Street in August 2008, though Gongadze's mother was against erecting a monument until the investigation is completed. She repeated her wish "to remove the monument to Gongadze" after a meeting with Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych on 22 June 2010,[ and also added her discontent with "political forces holding PR campaigns" regarding the Gongadze murder case.][
A literary token of respect for the work and courage of Gongadze is to be found in the novel for young adults, "Fair Game: The Steps of Odessa" (Spire Publishing, 2008, ) by James Watson. The book is dedicated to Giya Gongadze, and the theme of a persecuted journalist and the impact of his revelations about government corruption on his children has strong similarities to Gongadze's own fate.
In Kyiv and Lviv, ceremonies marking the disappearance of Gongadze were held on 16 September 2010 (ten years after his disappearance).
]
Filmography
''As film director''
* 1992 - ''The Pain of my Land'' ( uk, Біль моєї землі)
* 1993 - ''Shadows of War'' ( uk, Тіні війни) by the Center of Georgian CultureThe film of Georgiy Gongadze again is becoming popular
"Vysokyi Val". 10 August 2008
See also
* Freedom of the press in Ukraine
Ukraine was in 96th place[List of solved missing person cases
Lists of solved missing person cases include:
* List of solved missing person cases: pre-2000
* List of solved missing person cases: post-2000
See also
* List of kidnappings
* List of murder convictions without a body
* List of people who di ...](_blank)
* Orange Revolution
The Orange Revolution ( uk, Помаранчева революція, translit=Pomarancheva revoliutsiia) was a series of protests and political events that took place in Ukraine from late November 2004 to January 2005, in the immediate afterm ...
* Vasyl Klymentyev, journalist who disappeared in 2010
Notes
Footnotes and references
Further reading
* "Ukraine: Radio station accuses authorities of bullying tactics", BBC Monitoring (from "Den", Kyiv), 27 October 1999
* "Journalists seek freedom on the net", ''Kyiv Post'', 4 May 2000
*
Outspoken Ukraine journalist missing
, BBC News, 19 September 2000
* "Corpse of missing journalist found in Ukraine", Interfax, 16 November 2000
* "Opposition leader blames Ukrainian president for "ordering" reporter's disappearance", Interfax, 28 November 2000
*
Ukraine's 'censorship killing'
, BBC News, 14 February 2001
*
Judge denies journalist's murder solved
, BBC News, 17 May 2001
*
Ukraine official sentenced over journalist murder
, BBC News, 7 May 2003
*
'Killer admits' Gongadze murder
, BBC News, 21 June 2004
*
'Gongadze killers' held by police
, BBC News, 1 March 2005
*
Former intelligence chief alleged to have personally strangled Gongadze
, IFEX, 19 April 2005
*
Key Ukraine murder trial begins
, BBC News, Monday, 9 January 2006
External links
BBC News reports on the latest developments in the investigation of Gongadze's death
"Killing the Story", the BBC's extensive investigation of Gongadze's case
Collection of photocopied documents supposedly leaked from the criminal investigation of Gongadze's murder
Georgiy Gongadze murder: A horrific crime
(September 2010 timeline of the crime by ''Kyiv Post
The ''Kyiv Post'' is the oldest English-language newspaper in Ukraine, founded in October 1995 by Jed Sunden.
History
American Jed Sunden founded the ''Kyiv Post'' weekly newspaper on Oct. 18, 1995 and later created KP Media for his holdings. ...
'')
Georgiy Gongadze case: Anatomy of a cover-up
(September 2010 timeline of alleged cover-up of the crime by ''Kyiv Post
The ''Kyiv Post'' is the oldest English-language newspaper in Ukraine, founded in October 1995 by Jed Sunden.
History
American Jed Sunden founded the ''Kyiv Post'' weekly newspaper on Oct. 18, 1995 and later created KP Media for his holdings. ...
'')
Gondadze Case (2000–2008): A Legal Review – an Investigation by Dr iur Vyacheslav "Slavik" Bihun, LL.M.
(September 2008 '' YurGazeta'' '' YurGazeta'' a review, a comprehensive chronology of events, interviews with judge I. Griroryeva, trial attorneys V. Chevguz, M. Laptiyev, V. Telychenko (lawyer for M. Gongadze), Myroslava Gongadze, etc.)
''Key Witness in the Gongadze Case Dead''
(March 2005 ''Ukrainska Pravda
''Ukrainska Pravda'' ( uk, Українська правда, lit=Ukrainian Truth) is a Ukrainian online newspaper founded by Georgiy Gongadze on 16 April 2000 (the day of the Ukrainian constitutional referendum). Published mainly in Ukraini ...
'' article on the death of Kravchenko, analysing also his role in Gongadze case – includes fragments of the Melnychenko recordings)
''How the Gongadze Case Has Been Investigated''
(June 2005 ''Ukrainska Pravda
''Ukrainska Pravda'' ( uk, Українська правда, lit=Ukrainian Truth) is a Ukrainian online newspaper founded by Georgiy Gongadze on 16 April 2000 (the day of the Ukrainian constitutional referendum). Published mainly in Ukraini ...
'' article on the history of the Gongadze case investigation)
Ukrains'ka Pravda's Web-page dedicated to Gongadze and his case
About Gongadze
24 kanal.
Gongadze about Tymoshenko
Delo vkusa.
Dialogue of Gongadze with Medvedchuk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gongadze, Georgiy R.
1969 births
2000 deaths
2000s missing person cases
20th-century translators
20th-century linguists
20th-century Ukrainian journalists
Assassinated Ukrainian journalists
European Court of Human Rights cases involving Ukraine
Formerly missing people
Georgian emigrants to Ukraine
Georgian–English translators
Ilia State University alumni
Journalists from Tbilisi
Kidnapped Ukrainian people
Leonid Kuchma
Linguists from Georgia (country)
Male murder victims
Male sprinters from Georgia (country)
Missing person cases in Ukraine
Naturalized citizens of Ukraine
Police brutality in Ukraine
Ukrainian anti-corruption activists
Ukrainian film directors
Ukrainian mass media owners
University of Lviv alumni