ANALYSIS: Parliament commission says Kuchma was behind Gongadze's abduction (10/02/05)

ANALYSIS

Parliament commission says Kuchma was behind Gongadze's abduction

by Jeremy Bransten
RFE/RL Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova Report

A Ukrainian parliamentary commission investigating the murder of journalist Heorhii Gongadze dropped a bombshell on September 20 when it officially concluded that former President Leonid Kuchma organized the reporter's abduction. The commission also accused current Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn - President Kuchma's former chief of staff - of instigating the kidnapping.

The British are generally thought to be the masters of the "stiff upper lip" - maintaining glacial composure and showing little reaction, no matter how shocking the news. But Ukraine's political establishment could teach them a lesson or two. The reaction to the ad hoc parliamentary commission's shocking conclusions, presented by lawmaker Hryhorii Omelchenko, has been deafening silence.

President Viktor Yushchenko, who came into office at the start of the year vowing to resolve the Gongadze case - no matter what the political consequences - has not commented. Outgoing Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, asked on September 21 for her reaction, said she had other things to worry about. Neither the Internal Affairs Ministry nor any other law-enforcement agency has said a word.

When the Yushchenko administration came into office nine months ago, the situation seemed very different. Gongadze's abduction and his murder symbolized the corrupt past that Ukraine's new leaders promised to put behind them. Resolving the case, and bringing to justice the planners and perpetrators, appeared to be of key importance. Gongadze, founder of the Ukrayinska Pravda website, was well-known for his articles about alleged high-level corruption. He was abducted in Kyiv in September 2000. His decapitated body was later found in a forest outside the capital.

Weeks later, recordings said to be made by one of Mr. Kuchma's bodyguards were released in public and played in Parliament. The so-called "Melnychenko tapes" shocked many who heard them. On the recordings, a voice resembling Mr. Kuchma's tells another man, who sounds like former Internal Affairs Minister Yurii Kravchenko, to have Gongadze "removed and thrown to the Chechens."

The fact that a parliamentary commission has now lent credence to the tapes and confirmed what many ordinary Ukrainians have long believed - that Mr. Kuchma was behind the murder - should be huge news.

The fact that it passed almost unnoticed says much about the disappointed hopes of Ukraine's Orange Revolution, according to Viktoria Syumar of the Kyiv-based Institute of Mass Information. She says it is particularly sad that even Gongadze's fellow journalists took little notice.

"The commission's final report was presented to a half-empty hall and it didn't get much notice from journalists, although I remind you that five years ago, in September 2000, it was the journalists themselves who were the ones who pushed for the creation of this very commission," Ms. Syumar said.

Ms. Syumar said that unfortunately, the silence of Ukraine's new political establishment and Mr. Kuchma's recent behavior would seem to confirm suspicions that the two sides may have struck a secret peace deal over the case.

"It appears [Kuchma] is very relaxed since he has already begun to take an active part in political events, to comment on various issues, to label current politicians. It seems he feels well and very sure of himself. One can explain this easily, since in the past nine months, after so many promises, no steps have been undertaken [against him,]" Ms. Syumar said.

Another possibility, she believes, is that President Yushchenko and his allies may be pursuing a more Machiavellian strategy - at the expense of the justice they promised Ukraine's people.

"There is a high probability that this case will be used to secretly blackmail certain politicians - foremost among them of course, Volodymyr Lytvyn, who is on the Melnychenko tapes," Ms. Syumar said.

As further evidence of the authorities' disinterest in getting to the bottom of the case, Ms. Syumar noted that Ukraine's Procurator General Sviatoslav Piskun, during his recent trip to the United States, declined to meet with Mykola Melnychenko - whose tapes kicked off the whole case.

What happens now? Probably nothing, according to Ms. Syumar. The parliamentary commission has been disbanded and Ukraine's law enforcement bodies have no obligation to follow up.

"The problem is that these conclusions have no judicial status. The fact is that a [parliamentary] investigating commission is a constitutional body, nevertheless, in Ukraine there is still no law on such commissions which would regulate their work with law enforcement agencies and which would result in their investigations having a practical impact," Ms. Syumar said.

The Internal Affairs Ministry recently pronounced the case "closed" with the arrest of several low-level officers it named as Mr. Gongadze's killers. It appears that, for the time being, that is as far as the case will go.

RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service contributed to this report.

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