Financial Times on Ukraine
02/07/2001 | Broker
EU criticises Kiev over journalist
By Charles Clover in Kiev
Published: February 6 2001 19:17GMT | Last Updated: February 6 2001 21:30GMT
The European Union on Tuesday criticised the Ukrainian authorities'
investigation into the case of Georgy Gongadze, the Ukrainian journalist who
disappeared last year and whose headless body was apparently found outside
Kiev in November.
"The European Union is not convinced that this case has been investigated
with sufficient transparency and thoroughness," the EU said in a statement
released in Kiev.
The criticisms came as thousands of Ukrainians took to the streets in Kiev
on Tuesday to demonstrate against President Leonid Kuchma, whose opponents
accuse him of complicity in the disappearance of Mr Gongadze. A mysterious
set of tapes made public last November allegedly record Mr Kuchma ordering
Mr Gongadze's assassination.
Mr Kuchma denies any involvement in Mr Gongadze's death, saying he has been
framed by his political enemies. However, associates say he may now be close
to admitting that his office was bugged.
On Friday, Mikhailo Potebenko, Ukraine's general prosecutor, said the tapes
consisted of "audio recordings of certain state officials compromised with
certain words or fragments".
Making a montage of several conversation fragments to resemble a real
conversation is theoretically possible, according to experts. "It requires a
lot of effort and expertise, but it is possible to do this in a way that
would make it virtually undetectable," said Tammo Houtgast of TNO Human
factor, a Dutch institute that examined the tapes and concluded they were
not computer generated.
The tapes were allegedly made by one of Mr Kuchma's security guards, Mykola
Melnychenko, last year. He says he recorded more than 300 hours of Mr
Kuchma's conversations by placing a digital recorder under a couch in the
president's office. He and his family are in hiding abroad.
Officials in the president's administration assert, however, that it is very
unlikely that anyone but a foreign intelligence service could have arranged
the bugging of the president's office, the flight of Mr Melnychenko and his
family to Europe, and the carefully managed flow of information on the case
to the western press.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian law-enforcement officials have suffered increasing
criticism for their one-sided handling of the case, which opposition groups
say is evidence of their own complicity. Journalists and medical experts
investigating the case say they have been intimidated, and the government
has blocked attempts to analyse evidence independently.
By Charles Clover in Kiev
Published: February 6 2001 19:17GMT | Last Updated: February 6 2001 21:30GMT
The European Union on Tuesday criticised the Ukrainian authorities'
investigation into the case of Georgy Gongadze, the Ukrainian journalist who
disappeared last year and whose headless body was apparently found outside
Kiev in November.
"The European Union is not convinced that this case has been investigated
with sufficient transparency and thoroughness," the EU said in a statement
released in Kiev.
The criticisms came as thousands of Ukrainians took to the streets in Kiev
on Tuesday to demonstrate against President Leonid Kuchma, whose opponents
accuse him of complicity in the disappearance of Mr Gongadze. A mysterious
set of tapes made public last November allegedly record Mr Kuchma ordering
Mr Gongadze's assassination.
Mr Kuchma denies any involvement in Mr Gongadze's death, saying he has been
framed by his political enemies. However, associates say he may now be close
to admitting that his office was bugged.
On Friday, Mikhailo Potebenko, Ukraine's general prosecutor, said the tapes
consisted of "audio recordings of certain state officials compromised with
certain words or fragments".
Making a montage of several conversation fragments to resemble a real
conversation is theoretically possible, according to experts. "It requires a
lot of effort and expertise, but it is possible to do this in a way that
would make it virtually undetectable," said Tammo Houtgast of TNO Human
factor, a Dutch institute that examined the tapes and concluded they were
not computer generated.
The tapes were allegedly made by one of Mr Kuchma's security guards, Mykola
Melnychenko, last year. He says he recorded more than 300 hours of Mr
Kuchma's conversations by placing a digital recorder under a couch in the
president's office. He and his family are in hiding abroad.
Officials in the president's administration assert, however, that it is very
unlikely that anyone but a foreign intelligence service could have arranged
the bugging of the president's office, the flight of Mr Melnychenko and his
family to Europe, and the carefully managed flow of information on the case
to the western press.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian law-enforcement officials have suffered increasing
criticism for their one-sided handling of the case, which opposition groups
say is evidence of their own complicity. Journalists and medical experts
investigating the case say they have been intimidated, and the government
has blocked attempts to analyse evidence independently.