Gongadze relatives file suit to gain access to evidence (04/08/01)

Gongadze relatives file suit to gain access to evidence

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - The mother and wife of slain journalist Heorhii Gongadze filed suit in Kyiv on March 30 to have the Procurator General's Office give them access to all information and evidence on what has become known as the Tarascha corpse, which they have the authority to review but have yet to see.

They also restated their demand that authorities begin a comprehensive set of analyses to determine the manner and time of death of the corpse, which was found in November of last year in a shallow, partially unearthed grave near the town of Tarascha some 75 miles outside of Kyiv.

On April 3 the murdered journalist's wife, Myrosia, said she and her mother-in-law, Lesia, would like to see U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation agents return to complete the analyses they had begun and take part in the additional testing. But they see no reason for further testing if it is not accompanied by a basic examination to decide whether the size and age of the Tarascha remains are similar to those of the journalist. The dead journalist's wife reiterated a demand made earlier that analyses to determine the date and manner of death of the Tarascha corpse also must take place.

The U.S. Embassy released a statement on March 30 indicating that the U.S. was still considering a request for additional assistance in analyzing the Tarascha remains, which was submitted to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell by Ukraine's Foreign Affairs Minister Anatolii Zlenko on March 27 while he was in Washington for talks.

The wife of the journalist whose apparent murder has caused massive demonstrations on the capital's streets, including bloody encounters between police and protesters on March 9, said efforts by her and her mother-in-law, Lesia, to obtain test results and investigative notes have received nothing but negative responses from the Procurator General's Office.

"We are very, very tired of our running battle with the procurator general and beating our heads against that wall, and the endless inane problems and delays," Mrs. Gongadze explained during a press conference on April 2.

A Kyiv court ruling earlier this year extended "victim" status to the two Gongadze relatives in the tragedy surrounding the death of the journalist. Under Ukrainian law that gives them the right to review all evidence and documents associated with the investigation. But Ukraine's chief prosecutor has been unwilling to share anything with the two Gongadze relatives.

On April 4 Deputy Procurator General Oleksii Bahanets explained that, according to law, victims are not required to have access to case materials during the investigation, and his agency's policy is to allow them to review the case after the initial fact-finding is completed.

From nearly the day Mr. Gongadze disappeared on September 16, 2000, the two women have had a pitched battle with Ukrainian law enforcement officials over access to information on the investigation of the death of the reporter, who published an Internet newspaper heavily critical of presidential administration authorities and investigating relationships between them and business clans in Ukraine.

Lately the struggle between the Gongadze relatives and the Procurator General's Office has centered on whether the body found near Tarascha is the missing journalist's. It took Procurator General Mykhailo Potebenko more than a month to recognize DNA testing done in Russia, which showed a 99.6 percent probability that the remains were Mr. Gongadze - and only after additional testing raised the level of certainty to 99.9 percent.

However, a shocking revelation by National Deputy Serhii Holovatyi, who has played a prominent role in the attempt to obtain some clarity in the Gongadze affair, threw a heavy shadow of uncertainty over those results. On March 20 Mr. Holovatyi announced that an independent DNA test undertaken by a German firm and ordered by the special parliamentary committee investigating the Gongadze case had determined that the tissue sample taken from the Tarascha body by a colleague of the murdered journalist did not match either the journalist's DNA or that of his mother.

In a press release Myrosia Gongadze explained that the negative result suggested one of two things to her: that the Tarascha corpse is indeed the body of Mr. Gongadze, and that his colleague, Olena Prytula, received tissue fragments from another corpse; or that the Tarascha body is not and never was the body of Mr. Gongadze, and someone with access to the real body turned over an actual tissue sample to the Russian analysts for testing.

Most recently, an aborted attempt by the FBI to perform its own DNA testing, which was initiated in response to a request by Ukrainian authorities, has caused more frustration and confusion in the investigation. Two forensic experts from the FBI, who were in Kyiv on March 5 and again on March 8, abandoned an effort to obtain tissue samples required for proper DNA testing after the elder Ms. Gongadze balked at giving more samples until she received assurances that testing also would be done to determine the time and manner of her son's death.

On March 27, after Procurator General Potebenko agreed to accept Ms. Gongadze's demands, the FBI was invited back. As of April 4, U.S. officials were still considering that request.

The late reporter's mother, Lesia, suggested in comments made to The Weekly that, while she is not against the FBI continuing its investigation, she was baffled by contradictory statements she said various U.S. officials have made in discussions with her. She also explained that she was not happy with the manner in which U.S. Embassy officials questioned her during a meeting on March 30 at the Procurator General's Office on renewed FBI involvement in the examination of the Tarascha body.

"When I spoke with the representative of the FBI at my home in Lviv, he said that there is no problem determining the time and the reason for the death," said the elder Ms. Gongadze. "But Friday, during the meeting at the Procurator General's Office, the U.S. representatives said determining the time and manner of death was no longer possible."

Ms. Gongadze also said she did not appreciate what she perceived as pressure by U.S. Embassy legal advisors, who insisted she explain why she and her daughter-in-law were against submitting further tissue and blood samples.

"They treated me like the people from the procurator's office have," she explained.

In her comments to The Weekly, Mr. Gongadze's wife, Myrosia, said she wanted the assistance of the FBI, but expressed reservations on whether the thorough examination she would like could be conducted and whether she could handle the additional emotional strain caused by the tactics of the Procurator General's Office.

"If there is the chance to get questions answered as to the time and manner of death, then I am ready to cooperate," explained Ms. Gongadze. "The thing that is important to me right now, however, is the health and well-being of my children and me."

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