ANALYSIS: New evidence of high-level involvement in politically motivated murders in Ukraine (10/05/03)

ANALYSIS

New evidence of high-level involvement in politically motivated murders in Ukraine

by Taras Kuzio
RFE/RL Organized Crime and Terrorism Watch

Since the murder of opposition journalist Heorhii Gongadze in the fall of 2000, Ukrainian authorities either have been incompetent in their handling of this case, or have been unable to resolve it - or a mixture of the two. This is surprising because of the degree to which the Gongadze case has negatively affected both President Leonid Kuchma and Ukraine's domestic and international standing.

From November 2000 to April 2002, one reason the Gongadze case was not resolved was the role of then Procurator General Mykhailo Potebenko, who shielded Mr. Kuchma from accusations that he was directly involved in the crime. Mr. Potebenko, his staff, his successor, Sviatoslav Piskun, as well as Minister of Internal Affairs chief Yurii Smirnov have all arrived at contradictory and often bizarre explanations for the Gongadze murder.

Yet, four facts that have been known for a long time have again been authenticated by Internal Affairs Ministry sources. Firstly, it has now been admitted by the authorities that Gongadze was being followed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs prior to his death. According to the August 9-15 edition of the respected weekly Zerkalo Nedeli the documents pertaining to this were destroyed after the removal of Minister Yurii Kravchenko in February 2001.

Second, Mr. Kuchma was allegedly recorded by security officer Mykola Melnychenko as demanding that Gongadze be dealt with. Present at the meeting were then-presidential administration head Volodymyr Lytvyn (now chairman of the Verkhovna Rada), Mr. Kravchenko, and Security Service of Ukraine Chairman Leonid Derkach. The recording shows that Mr. Kuchma ordered Mr. Gongadze to be beaten up (but not murdered).

Many other journalists have testified since then that they were beaten by the Internal Affairs Ministry and warned to halt their critical reporting. In the Gongadze case, we can only assume that something went wrong when he was beaten up, leading to his death.

Ihor Honcharov, an officer in the special forces' unit that was involved in political and criminal kidnappings, testified that "These crimes were perpetrated on the direct instruction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs." He also said, "The highest officials of the state knew about these kidnappings and murders and were associated with them" (Zerkalo Nedeli, August 9-15).

Third, the units responsible were from the special forces of the Internal Affairs Ministry Directorate to Combat Organized Crime (UBOZ). The UBOZ has units called "Sokil" (Falcon), which have also been nicknamed "Werewolves." Mr. Kravchenko bragged at the meeting recorded by Mr. Melnychenko that he had vicious units that would do anything he ordered. It was officially admitted in 2000 by the Procurator General's Office that Sokil members did not combat organized crime but worked alongside them or terrorized them for protection money. The Kyiv daily Segodnya on August 1, 2002, followed by ITAR-TASS on August 8, reported that the Procurator General's Office had arrested Sokil members who had cooperated with organized crime.

Fourth, a leading member of a Sokil unit, Honcharov, was one of a number of people arrested in May 2002. After their arrests, Sokil members leaked information anonymously to the opposition Socialist website (www.Grani.kiev.ua) on February 17, 2002, that dealt with the involvement of their colleagues in the Gongadze murder. Mr. Piskun admitted in an interview in the same month in Zerkalo Nedeli that their involvement was one of the three theories being investigated. Mr. Honcharov compiled further evidence of Sokil's involvement in the murder of Mr. Gongadze, which was released after Mr. Honcharov's mysterious death.

After being arrested, Mr. Honcharov claimed in statements published by the Ukrayinska Pravda website on August 10 and September 10 that he was ordered not to testify against other officers. He claimed he had been tortured and beaten in prison, which is thought by many to have led to his death on August 1. Mr. Honcharov was the second Sokil member to have died recently in prison - occurrences that conveniently removed two potential witnesses in any future court case. Suspiciously, Mr. Honcharov's body was quickly cremated two days after his death.

Mr. Honcharov himself was accused of eight murders and, as Zerkalo Nedeli points out, he was "in the epicentre of the criminal group of militia officers." Nevertheless, Internal Affairs Ministry officers implicated by Mr. Honcharov, such as Serhii Chamula, the former head of Kyiv's UBOZ, continue to work in other UBOZ field offices.

After his death, Mr. Honcharov's documents and testimony were sent to a Kyiv-based non-governmental organization, the Institute for Mass Information, which represents Reporters Without Borders. At first, the Procurator General's Office denied their authenticity and Deputy Prosecutor Oleksander Medvedko said the papers revealed nothing new about Mr. Gongadze. A month later, Mr. Piskun changed his tune and admitted in an interview in the newspaper 2000 that the Mr. Honcharov papers are genuine and contain new facts in the Gongadze investigation.

Incredibly, at the same time, Deputy Procurator Viktor Shokin continued to claim that "Melnychenko does not know anything [about the Mr. Gongadze affair]." Adding Mr. Melnychenko's tapes to testimony by Internal Affairs Ministry officers would be presumably too dangerous for the authorities.

These new revelations may shed light on other political murders in Ukraine.

These include former National Bank of Ukraine Chairman Vadym Hetman, who offered to finance Viktor Yushchenko's 1999 presidential campaign (he declined, in the end, to stand), and Vyacheslav Chornovil, the former leader of Rukh, who died in a suspicious car accident. Mr. Hetman, Mr. Chornovil and former Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko were the three main individuals blocking a potential re-election of President Kuchma in 1999 for a second term. Only Mr. Lazarenko escaped by fleeing to the United States where he is soon to go on trial for money laundering.

A car carrying Volodymyr Yefremov, a newspaper and television editor, collided with a Kamaz truck on July 14 and killed the journalist. The accident occurred just a month before Mr. Yefremov was due to give testimony in the U.S. in the Lazarenko case. Kamaz trucks have figured regularly in such "accidents."

The Chornovil case is particularly intriguing. Ukrainska Pravda reported on January 25, 2001, that after Mr. Chornovil's car accident in March 1999 special forces officers, who may have also been from a Sokil unit, provided video of an interview in which they admit organizing the Chornovil "accident." Mr. Omelchenko said the video was given to then-opposition presidential candidate, Yevhen Marchuk, Ukrainska Pravda reported on December 11, 2000.

But Mr. Marchuk was co-opted by Mr. Kuchma in the second round and he then claimed he lost the video, the Kyiv Post reported on January 26, 2001. After four years as secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, Mr. Marchuk was named defense minister in May. On September 10, Ukrainska Pravda reported that the chairman of the parliamentary committee investigating the Gongadze murder, Hryhorii Omelchenko, as linking the initials "YKM" (which are Mr. Marchuk's initials) to Mr. Honcharov's papers, as someone to whom details of the Gongadze affair were passed.

The issue of political murders, including that of Gongadze, will not go away. The Gongadze committee in Parliament has concluded that Messrs. Kuchma and Kravchenko are the "organizers of the abduction of Heorhii Gongadze which led to the tragic result of his murder."

The fear of being out of power after the October 2004 election is fueling various machinations surrounding "political reform" initiated by President Kuchma. One central issue is that of Mr. Kuchma's immunity when he is out of office. While high-level corruption, election rigging and even illegal arms sales may be quietly forgotten, the issue of involvement in violence and murder will continue to haunt President Kuchma after he leaves office. As recent examples have shown in Peru, Argentina and Chile, immunity is never forever.

Dr. Taras Kuzio is a resident fellow at the Center for Russian and East European Studies, University of Toronto.

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